Tim Tetrick mapped out a perfect pocket trip for Yursa Hanover in Sunday’s $214,163 final of the Matron Stake for three-year-old trotting fillies at Dover Downs, and the Ben Baillargeon student didn’t let it go to waste
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The daughter of Windsongs Legacy-Yankee Topaz hauled down a tempo-setting Windsong Soprano in the final strides and drew clear to win in a sharp clocking of 1:53.4. The effort was just two-fifths of a second off the 1:53.2 World Record set by Hidden Viggorish at The Meadows in 2006.
Yursa Hanover hung Windsong Soprano to the quarter pole in 27 seconds before releasing that Canadian-based filly to the front. Once in command of the tempo, Windsong Soprano led the field through middle splits of :56.4 and 1:25.1.
Tetrick angled Yursa Hanover off the rail at the head of the stretch and used a :28.1 closing kick to post the one and a half-length score over Windsong Soprano. Rounding out the top three in the rich contest was Musical Mystery.
Richard Berthiaume of Pointe-Aux-Trembles, QC owns the nine-time winner, who has assembled a 7-4-2 record in 16 trips postward this season. The lion’s share of the purse boosted this year’s earnings to $377,835 while her lifetime total climbed to $747,165.
In a post-race interview, trainer Baillargeon indicated the filly will return to the races in 2010.