With a win, second and two thirds in her last four stats, Matinee Dragon was overlooked at 56-1 in the $20,000 Mares Open Handicap and took the lead at the top of the stretch en route to a lifetime-best 1:52.4 victory at Dover Downs on Tuesday, Feb. 16.
Jonathan Roberts pulled Matinee Dragon out of fifth heading to the half-mile post. She worked her way up to challenge front-pacing Springforth at the three-quarters. After racing head-to-head around the final turn with Sage N and Cheyenne Robins stacked behind, Matinee Dragon took off to take a short lead, which she held by a head with five distaffs coming on at the wire.
Matinee Dragon paid $114.40 for a $2 Win ticket, setting a $462.20 exacta and a $1,766.60 trifecta payoff. Sage N (Tim Tetrick) was second, with Springforth (George Dennis) a tight third.
The win was Roberts' second on the program. Matinee Dragon is owned by trainer Vincent Bradley and Louis Catana.
In a $15,500 4&5-Year-Old Mares Winners-Over Pace, Allan Davis won his second of the day, steering Nice Trip to victory in 1:54.1 for trainer Joe Hundertpfund and owners Bill Sartin and Mark Salerno. Naty (Roberts) came home in a hurry to take second in front of Lady Beth (Tetrick). Nice Trip, a four-year-old Jeremes Jet-Nice Package mare, won for the third time in 2016 and fifth time this meet.
Trainer Darrell and Leah Lewis’ Northern Rocknroll won her fifth straight in a lifetime-best 1:53.4 clocking in a $14,000 distaff pace for young horses. Tony Morgan was winning driver of the Rockin Image-Northern Lei Ann four-year-old. Eternal Sunrise (Callahan) was a close second. Casa Miasa (Dennis) was the third finisher.
Jerseylicious, owned by Pam Curran, Niel Gargiulo and Legacy Racing of DE, won for the first time this year, scoring a wire-to-wire 1:52.1 triumph with Allan Davis driving in a $12,000 Mares pace. B Stern (Vic Kirby) was second with Duneside Chella (Tony Morgan) third. The win was the 17th lifetime for Jerseylicious, a brown daughter of Western Ideal-Jet Lag N, who has banked $654,990 in her career. She is trained by Wayne Givens.
Also on the undercard, Jerry Clark’s Westsluckycam notched her fifth consecutive victory in an $11,500 3,4&5-Year-Old Fillies and Mares pace. Jonathan Roberts was in the bike for her sixth win to go along with two seconds in nine lifetime starts. Douglas Lewis trains the Camluck-Terror Of The West filly, who was a neck winner in 1:54.
Allan Davis, Vic Kirby, Corey Callahan, Montrell Teague and Jonathan Roberts all had driving doubles.
(With files from Dover Downs)