The opening weekend of Illinois stakes action continued on Sunday night at Balmoral Park as a field of six state-bred sophomore trotters met in the $8,000 Speedy Rodney Stakes.
As we’ve seen in the past, these trotting events can provide some surprises and Sunday’s test was no different as Phil Langley and Jim Eaton’s Divinely Floozy pulled off the 19-1 shocker, winning by one and three-quarter lengths in 1:58.
Dismissed by the betting public after making breaks in her only two career starts, the daughter of Yankee Valor—Selma was smooth as silk on Sunday night, getting away third in the compact field for driver Tim Curtin as Meabh (Mike Oosting), the overwhelming 2-5 favourite in the race, led the way through snappy early splits of :28.2 and :57.4.
Moving confidently off the pylons as the field trotted midway around the final bend, the $3,500 yearling purchase looked like a million bucks on this night, zipping right by the pacesetter as the field rolled past the three-quarter-mile mark in 1:28.
Through the lane, the Jim Eaton trainee was straight and strong as she began to draw away from the overwhelming favourite and then calmly held off a late bid from Patient ID (John De Long) to notch her first career victory. Patient ID was a nice second, giving the fillies a 1-2 finish in this race, while Southern Special (Brian Carpenter) came on late to finish third.
Unraced as a two-year-old, bigger and better things could be on the horizon for Divinely Floozy, who returned a healthy $40.80, $13.60 and $5.80 to her backers.
(With files from Balmoral Park)