Trainer Kelly O’Donnell knows three-year-old filly pacer Weeper is fast. Sometimes, though, she might be too quick for her own good.
Weeper, who races in Tuesday’s second $34,712 division of the Historic-Ladyship Stakes at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs, has won eight of 10 career starts. Her two losses came last season in races in which she went off stride at the top of the stretch.
In the Ladyship, Weeper and regular driver Dave Palone will start from post three and are the 8-5 morning line favourite in a field that includes 2013 Breeders Crown champion Uffizi Hanover. Weeper is 3-for-3 this year, with her victories coming by a total of nearly 14 lengths.
“She’s a real nice filly,” O’Donnell said. “We don’t know why she makes the breaks once in a while, but Dave says he thinks that she’s so game that at the top of the stretch she’s trying to shift into another gear. It’s always coming off that last turn, darting for home. We’ve tried everything to correct it. I think she just wants to go more than her legs can go.”
Weeper was bred by Winbak Farm and is owned by Winbak’s Joe and Joann Thomson (under the name Bay Pond Racing Stable). She is a daughter of stallion Allamerican Native out of the mare Pleasant Yet Bad. The dam is a full sister to multiple-stakes-winner Badlands Nitro.
She was prepped for her two-year-old campaign by Winbak’s head trainer, Jeff Fout, who turned over the filly to O’Donnell after her first qualifier.
Weeper won twice in 1:51.4 last year, once at The Meadows and once at Pocono Downs. Only two two-year-old filly pacers won with faster times on a five-eighth-mile track: Allstar Rating and Gallie Bythe Beach. Weeper enters the Ladyship coming off a 2-1/4 length victory over Allstar Rating in a division of the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes at The Meadows on May 3.
“I was just lucky enough to get her,” O’Donnell said. “She’s a big, strong, rugged-looking filly. Knock on wood, if she stays healthy, I think she can go with the best of them.”
In addition to the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes, Weeper is eligible to the Mistletoe Shalee Stakes, Lynch Memorial, Adioo Volo, Keystone Classic and Pennsylvania All Stars.
Weeper, who entering Tuesday had not started a race this year from inside of post seven, has gone gate-to-wire in all three of her 2014 races.
“I would love to see her get a trip,” O’Donnell said. “I don’t know how fast she could go with someone cutting the fractions for her.”
This story courtesy of Harness Racing Communications, a division of the U.S. Trotting Association. For more information, visit www.ustrotting.com.