Taking full advantage of miscues by several of the top contenders in Wednesday’s featured $9,000 Mikes A Mystery Stake at Balmoral Park, Sue Phillips and Jerald & Donna Viviani’s Showmeyourstuff trotted to his third victory of the year
as he reported home with a half-length triumph in 1:57.1.
Sent right to the front by driver Marcus Miller, the gelded son of Armbro American-Pine Bough led the field through an opening quarter in :29.1.
That’s when disaster struck for entrymate Leaveitonthetrack and last season’s champion Run And Tell Pap as both trotters made breaks on the backstretch. That left Showmeyourstuff all alone on the front end as he proceeded to stroll through leisurely middle splits of :59 and 1:28.2.
Through the stretch a tiring Showmeyourstuff began to drift to the outside as the pocket-sitting Big Bucks (Homer Hochstetler) tried to cut into the leader’s margin while moving through on the inside. Showing the grit and determination that led him to three victories and two second place finishes in his first five starts this year, the Jerald Viviani trainee dug in gamely getting to the wire a half-length ahead of Big Bucks. Dutch Commander (Dave Magee) turned a ground saving trip into the show dough.
With the win Showmeyourstuff now boasts seven wins, three seconds and two thirds in 19 lifetime starts with earnings of $104,816.
Freshman pacing fillies were also in action on Wednesday night as a field of eight youngsters squared off in the $5,000 Misty Misty Stake. This race provided one of the most thrilling finishes of the night as Obermeier & Quaid Stables' Little Maeve rallied in the final stride to win by a nose in 1:58.3 for driver Mike Oosting.
After being in good striking position as Queen Of The Nile (Jamaica Patton) and Fox Valley Sedona (Lavern Hostetler) traded blows through opening splits of :29.3 and 1:00.3 Oosting suddenly found himself stuck inside as a live outer flow quickly developed as the field headed for the far turn.
Shuffled all the way back to sixth in the field of eight as Fox Valley Sedona moved by the three-quarter-mile mark in 1:30.3, Oosting was desperately searching for racing room as the field neared the eighth pole.
Finally finding a sliver of daylight, Oosting swiftly maneuvered the daughter of Ideal Towne-R N Labelle to the far outside. Closing like a freight train through the final sixteenth of a mile, the Roger Welch-trained miss sped home in :27.3 to nail the victory right on the wire. Fox Valley Sedona was second while Little Miss Henry (Marcus Miller) was third.
(Balmoral Park)