Tracy Brainard trainees Yellow Diamond, Shacked Up and not Enough each won their respective $35,000 eliminations for the Fan Hanover stakes tonight at Mohawk Racetrack, resulting in an elimination sweep for the Brainard Stables and Bulletproof Enterprises
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Yellow Diamond cemented her status as the circuit’s most accomplished three-year-old filly with a workmanlike half-length effort over Showherthemoney (Brian Sears) and Windsong Filou (Jody Jamieson) in the evening’s first elim.
Jim Morrill Jr. guided the Western Terror filly to the 1:51.4 clocking after cutting a half-mile in :55-flat.
Tracy Brainard trained the New York-bred to her fifth win in seven 2009 starts for Bulletproof Enterprises of Florida. She paid $3.30 to win.
Front-end tactics were the order of the evening for 7-5 second favourite, Shacked Up, who left from Post 6 for linesman Brian Sears on a track getting increasingly sticky with persistent rain. John Campbell gave chase with Shanghai Lil through fractions of :27.3, :57.1, and 1:25.4, with 6-5 betting choice Fox Valley Topaz riding along in the backfield until after the half-mile marker, when David Miller stepped on the accelerator to move his filly up to third on the outside. Fox Valley Topaz, however, couldn’t get past either Shanghai Lil nor the leader, and Shacked Up took the elimination by one and three-quarters lengths, in a time of 1:52.4.
Shacked Up, a recent winner of a Lynch elimination at Pocono Downs, is now two-for-four in 2009. She is a daughter of Western Terror out of the Falcon Seelster mare Sapphire Dawn.
“It was a short field and there wasn’t a whole lot of speed in there. With a short field sometimes you get soft fractions like I did, and it worked out good,” remarked driver Brian Sears.
“She’s a nice filly. I raced her in the Lynch and we had a flat tire the whole mile [but] she put in a real game effort. I thought she had it in her. I thought she might be a little better off cover, but with numbers like that, she was able to come home in :27 flat.
“She’s a sweetheart of a filly and she’ll go whatever [speed] they’re going. She’ll follow a long ways.”
Asked how Shacked Up will likely fair in the upcoming $735,000 final on June 27 against already-qualified stablemate, Yellow Diamond, Sears said, “Yellow Diamond is kind of in a league of her own with these other fillies, but Shacked Up should get a piece of it [in the final].”
Not Enough had plenty in the final elimination for the Fan Hanover, dominating her peers to pace home a three length winner in 1:52.4 and deliver the series sweep for the Brainard barn.
There was plenty of action on the front end in the early fractions of this contest. Special Sweetheart fired to the front from Post 6 for Tim Tetrick, with 3-5 favourite Not Enough slipping into the pocket spot for Jim Morrill Jr. The quick-brushing Shes A Fan, however, gained the advantage just after a :27.3 first marker for Jody Jamieson, only to relinquish that lead to Not Enough, who was sent after her from third and cleared just past the half in :56.2. Warrawee Kay and Ron Pierce were on the hunt through the far turn, but couldn’t manage better than second as Not Enough opened up by three lengths. At the wire, Not Enough was all alone by three and a quarter lengths, with Girls Night Out (John Campbell) hustling up for second and a rallying Special Sweetheart, third.
Not Enough, by Grinfromeartoear, is now flawless in six starts as a sophomore, and has swelled her bankroll past the $300,000 mark with the win.
Assistant trainer Josh Marks said, “All three of them [Yellow Diamond, Shacked Up and Not Enough] won, so we should be in decent shape picking out post positions next week. She’s a pretty good filly; we knew she’d pick up on a big track today.
“We don’t want to put all our eggs in one basket going into the [Fan Hanover] final because they’ve got to go all the way to the end of the year, but the program seems to be working. They all get a lot of turn-out and everything seems fine.”
Conditioner Tracy Brainard also qualified If I Can Dream for the $1.5 million Pepsi North America Cup this evening, with a win in the third of four $50,000 eliminations.
Here is the field for the $680,000 final of the Fan Hanover scheduled for next Saturday, June 27:
1 - Girls Nite Out
2 - Windsong Filou
3 - Shacked Up
4 - Not Enough
5 - Yellow Diamond
6 - Shanghai Lil
7 - Special Sweetheart
8 - Blogette Hanover
9 - Showherthemoney
10 - Fox Valley Topaz
AE1 - Ginger And Fred
The Fan Hanover final is on a card which also features the finals of the Elegantimage, the Goodtimes and of course the $1.5 million Pepsi North America Cup.
To view Saturday's results, click here.
(With files from WEG)