UF Lindsay Lou Who completed her sweep of the Mary Wohlmuth Memorial Trot for three and four-year-old fillies and mares when she rolled to a front-end victory in Saturday’s $30,800 championship at The Meadows.
The card featured the finals of four series for three and four-year-olds, with total purses of $122,500. Also taking championships were Wasaga Beach, Cantad Kid and Connecting Flight.
UF Lindsay Lou Who had won four straight entering the Mary Wohlmuth championship, but had to deal with post seven. She duelled for the early lead and had little trouble thereafter, scoring in 1:55.4 for Brian Zendt, trainer Leslie Zendt and owner Up Front Racing. Flowers N Songs was second, one and a quarter lengths back, with My Pink Bike third.
Her performance in the series was something of a surprise, inasmuch as an injury prematurely ended the sophomore campaign of the daughter of Donato Hanover-Sweetspellosuccess.
“Do you see how small she is? I didn’t realize how good she’d be on the front,” Brian Zendt said. “I don’t think size matters to her. She has a different kind of attitude not all racehorses have. She just digs and digs. The last two or three trips, I was just sitting on her. She’s been doing it like it’s a training mile.”
Leslie Zendt indicated she’ll give Upfront Lindsay Lou Who some time off before she returns to face overnight company.
$28,700 Donna Dunn Memorial Pace — Fillies & Mares
Wasaga Beach scored the most lopsided victory in the finals, enjoying comfortable early fractions before pouring it on to prevail in 1:54.3 for Tony Hall, four and a half lengths better than the pocket-sitting Lucky Lucka. Call Me Lil Terror earned show.
Hall, who piloted three winners on the card, said the addition of earplugs helped the three-year-old daughter of Somebeachsomewhere-Adela Hanover.
“She responds pretty well to them,” Hall said. “Last year, she got a little warm at times, and we knew we would have to make a change to relax her. There’s some stiff competition ahead for her, but right now, she’s where she needs to be.”
Randy Bendis trains Wasaga Beach and owns with Reed Broadway, Tom Pollack and John Campbell.
$31,000 Ken Weaver Memorial Trot — Colts, Horses & Geldings
When trainer Tyler Stillings purchased Cantad Kid for Rags To Riches of PA for $20,000 at the Blooded Horse Sale last November, the four-year-old Mr Cantab-Nila Domarr gelding showed a strong preference for the front end. While that style was reasonably successful for Cantad Kid, Stillings wanted to add versatility to his game.
“He might have been a little bit green,” Stillings said. “He raced close up because he could leave the gate pretty well. We took the hopples off, and I think that relaxed him a little bit.”
The rigging change bore fruit Saturday when Cantad Kid saved his brush for the lane, triumphing for Eric Ledford in a career-best 1:55.3. Explosive Leggs rallied for second, three-quarters of a length in arrears, while early leader Wilberforce completed the ticket.
Stillings said the schedule for Cantad Kid is uncertain.
“We don’t have any big plans for him,” he said. “This was his Hambletonian.”
$32,000 Walter Russell Memorial Pace — Colts, Horses & Geldings
Connecting Flight atoned for an unforced break on the lead last week by vaulting to the front from post nine for Dave Palone and scoring in a swift 1:52.1. Dr Drake Ramoray was three-quarters of a length back in second, with Arthur Pendragon third.
“I’m not quite sure what happened to him last week,” said Kevin Johnson, who conditions the four-year-old Panspacificflight-Shares Rebound gelding for Erv Miller. “It was a little muddy down the backside. Maybe some mud was hitting him the wrong way. But he bounced back pretty good. We didn’t change anything or try anything different.”
He said Connecting Flight will be pointed to a series at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono.
(The Meadows)