Despite a demanding journey to the lead, SJs Minolta had plenty of pop in the lane as she captured the
$29,000 final of the Whotookwhat Trot - a series for three-year-old fillies – at The Meadows on Thursday afternoon.
SJs Minolta parked beyond the quarter pole before releasing Pleasures Song to the lead. She stalked that foe for the remainder of the mile before brushing by in the lane en route to a career-best clocking of 1:57. Pleasures Song held on to finish second and Allthatnabagofchip was third.
It was the fastest mile this year by a sophomore trotting filly on a 5/8-mile track. What makes the performance even more remarkable is that SJs Minolta is under treatment for equine protozoal myeloencephalitis (EPM), a progressive, degenerative neurological disease of the central nervous system that typically
impairs coordination.
Breeder/trainer/driver David Wade, who owns the daughter of SJs Photo-TJs Royal Tigress with Gerald Brittingham and Kelley Rogers, diagnosed the condition last year and has been treating the filly ever since.
“EPM is a hideous disease that has cost owners millions of dollars,” Wade said. “The difference with this filly is she wants to win, she wants to perform. She has so much heart and desire - you can’t teach that.”
Wade said he plans to space the filly’s races and keep her close to her western Pennsylvania home to accommodate her medical condition, recognizing that many EPA victims don’t realize their full athletic potential.
“She may never achieve that,” Wade said. “We just have to work with what we have. I had her stake schedule set out last July for her three-year-old year, and I had her going everywhere to everything. In February, I was unable to train her in 4:00, she was that bad. So I cut her stake payments down to the bare bone. I’m not sorry that I did that because I don’t think it would be good for her to ship all over and race hard week after week.”
(The Meadows)