Illinois conceived and foaled trotting freshmen shared the spotlight on Wednesday, Oct. 13 at Balmoral Park as a field of 10 diagonally gaited fillies looked to join My Miss Caroline in next week’s $45,800 Violet final
while battling it out in a $7,000 Violet Stake elimination while a field of seven colts slugged it out in an $18,900 Lincoln Land Stake consolation.
The Violet elimination provided an upset as the Joseph Mullins-owned and trained Maple Grove Emily parlayed a perfect two-hole trip into her first career victory as she recorded a half-length decision in 2:02.1 at odds of 14-1.
Perfectly handled by driver Jamaica Patton, the daughter of Vaporize-Maple Grove Smoky left alertly and tucked in behind Ts Rank N File (Brian Carpenter) as that filly rolled through splits of :29.4, 1:02.3 and 1:33.1.
After watching a first over Search For Reality (Todd Warren) take command in the stretch, Patton then slickly slid his charge to the outside where she gradually wore down Search For Reality in the final yards for the victory. Another longshot, Make It Rain (Robert Smolin), closed up the inside to finish third.
Also moving into the final with fourth though ninth place finishes were Fox Valley Helena, Fox Valley Ruffian, Sassy Kat, Gumcorner Sally, Ts Rank N File and My Game.
There were no such surprises in the Lincoln Land Consolation as T & R Rietveld, Robert Taylor and Kevin Dixon’s Detailer made amends for his disappointing break in the Lincoln Land Final by cruising to a very easy 3-3/4 length triumph in 1:59.0 for driver Dave Magee.
After lagging the gate just a bit from the outside starting spot in the field of seven, Magee sent the gelded son of Armbro Tropicana on a mission for the lead and after being parked through an opening quarter in :30.2, the Robert Taylor trainee finally made it to the front at the three-eighths mile mark.
In complete command the rest of the way, Detailer cruised through middle splits of :59.4 and 1:30. With plenty left in reserve, the good looking bay simply sprinted away from his rivals in the lane for Magee as he scored for the third time in nine lifetime starts. Itz Alive (Art Gregory Jr.), who sat right on the winner’s back for most of the mile, wound up second while Matter Of Guilt (Todd Warren) was third.
Sent off as the 4-5 choice of the betting public Detailer returned $3.80, $2.80 and $2.40 while increasing his career bankroll to $24,117.
(With files from Balmoral Park)