Heavy public choice Evident Beauty marched to the front for driver David Miller and never looked back, scoring in the $124,000 first division of the Del Miller Memorial for three-year-old trotting fillies at The Meadowlands on Saturday night.
The New Jersey-bred daughter of Trixton stopped the timer in 1:52.3, equalling her lifetime best.
Evident Beauty, trained by Richard ‘Nifty’ Norman for owners Melvin Hartman, Little E LLC and RAW Equine, displaced Beautiful Sin from the lead at the :28.3 opening quarter. From there a soft :57.3 half gave the 1-5 favourite the confidence she would need. Cloud Nine Fashion and Tim Tetrick made a strong coverless challenge at the half and looked on the verge of going by the favourite through three-quarters timed in 1:25.3.
But once into the homestretch, Evident Beauty was driven by Miller and found her best stride to turn back Cloud Nine Fashion with a :27 final quarter.
Miss Trixton finished third behind the winner, who returned $2.40 as the prohibitive favourite.
"I felt pretty confident," Miller said after the second-half duel. "My mare held strong."
The second $126,500 Del Miller division saw Millies Possesion remain undefeated, capturing her seventh straight career outing in impressive fashion. The Fashion Farms LLC homebred by Possess The Will scored in 1:53.2.
Dexter Dunn rated Millies Possesion in the early stages, allowing Starita to cut fractions of :28.1 and :57.3 before taking any interest. Dunn moved up methodically as Sears and Starita hit three-quarters in 1:26 and were in control. But in the homestretch, Millies Possesion just kept eating up ground and devoured the leader, eventually drawing clear with a :27.2 final quarter. Queen Of Trixs was airborne in closing late for second, with The Ice Dutchess finishing third.
Also sent off as the public choice, Millies Possesion returned $3.00 to win.
"I knew we were going slow, but at the moment she seems to overcome these kind of trips," said Dunn of Millies Possesion, who last week was parked the mile winning the Reynolds and followed it up with another overland journey.
The victory capped a huge night for trainer Jim Campbell and Fashion Farms, who captured the $450,000 Hambletonian Maturity earlier in the night with Crystal Fashion.
(Meadowlands)
To view results for Saturday's card of harness racing, click the following link: Saturday Results – Meadowlands.