It doesn't seem to matter who Jennifer “the Golden Girl” Lappe races against; amateurs or professionals. She does equally well against both.
Today (Nov. 8) at Monticello Raceway Lappe had a driving double on the betting card when she won an amateur contest in race two, and then came right back with a victory against professional drivers in race three. Currently “the Golden Girl” is ringing up stats that the professionals would be proud of.
Her first victory was with Multitaskr Hanover ($4.60) in 2:00.1, which, by the way, was Lappe's second consecutive triumph with the Explosive Matter gelding. In today's contest ”Coach Paul” Minore hustled Wygant Prince to the front but “Yankee Joe” Lee, with On The Podium, parked him to a :28.4 first quarter before he allowed Minore to take charge. At that point Lappe was in third position along the pylons after starting from the three-hole.
When the field rounded the second turn and headed down the stretch On The Podium was still the race leader in a the :58.4 clocked half. As the field trotted to the third stanza Lappe moved Multitaskr Hanover off the pylons and made a serious challenge for the lead. As they trotted by the third quarter Lappe's horse tried to pull up, but expertly she allowed him to drift so as not to go off-stride and once she settled him they got back in the race. Lappe displayed her displeasure with her trotter's drifting and she went to work on getting him back to strongly challenge On The Podium as they rounded the final turn. In the lane Multtaskr Hanover trotted to the lead and went on to a one-length triumph over On The Podium. Fiji, with Dave “the Rave” Offenberg at the controls, came from far back to finish third.
Although she didn't have much time to hang up the lines after her victory and get Giddy Up Delight ready for the very next race, she did explain that Multitaskr Hanover lost his left front shoe in the post parade and they returned to the paddock to have it nailed on.
“I was grateful that we found the shoe and that the paddock blacksmith nailed it in place...but it took quite a while,” Lappe said of the ordeal that caused a big delay at the start of the race. “When we did get back on the racetrack we had no time to score down and had to go directly behind the starting gate. And I think a cold start confused Multitaskr and in the race he tried to pull up before the final turn. But whatever it was once I got him back heading in the right direction he was full of trot.”
After her three-length 1:57.4 pacing victory with Giddy Up Delight (pictured above, $10.80) in the following race “the Golden Girl” currently has 35 wins, 43 seconds and 53 thirds in 288 seasonal starts, good for a .266 UDR. Lappe has a big stable and as a trainer of record this season she has 92 wins in 557 starts good for a .298 UDR.
(with files from the Billings Series)