Lyons Sentinel battled the 1-5 favourite, Rocknificent, through a protracted duel and edged her by a nose in Saturday’s Pennsylvania Sires Stakes at The Meadows.
The event for freshman filly pacers, known as the Sand Tart, was contested over three divisions, with Shouldabeenatd and Sweet Ace taking the other splits.
Rocknificent is a Captaintreacherous daughter out of Rocklamation, a Dan Patch Award winner as an older mare. On the strength of that impeccable pedigree and a win in her career debut, Rocknificent was bet down to 1-5. When she set sail after Lyons Sentinel from fourth, it looked as if she had the leader dead to rights.
But Lyons Sentinel dug in for Brian Sears and downed Rocknificent by a nose, breaking her maiden in 1:53., with Lainie Hanover third.
“She was real green on the front, didn’t want to go much, got real relaxed,” Sears said. “But when I asked her, she responded.”
Jim King, Jr. trains the daughter of Captaintreacherous-Tulu Hanover for Geoffrey Lyons Mound.
Parked the opening quarter in 27.2 before yielding to the pocket, Shouldabeenatd had plenty in the tank late, defeating Speak To Siri by a head for Yannick Gingras in a stake-fastest 1:52.2. Dance Club earned show.
“I was just taking my time getting there that first quarter,” Gingras said. “I wanted to cut it, but I took the two hole, and it worked out.”
Ron Burke conditions the homebred daughter of Sweet Lou-Breakheart Pass for Burke Racing Stable and Weaver Bruscemi LLC.
Also part of the Adios eliminations card was an $80,000 PA Stallion Series stake for freshman filly pacers, with the splits going to The Partys Rockin, Shotgun Persuasion, Aplomp Hanover and Lyons Sweetjen.
Tim Tetrick piloted a pair of those winners — Shotgun Persuasion and Lyons Sweetjen — for King, giving the trainer three stakes victories on the day.
The Partys Rockin trailed by 6-1/2 lengths at the half and was well wide in the stretch. But she roared home for Tyler Buter in 1:53.1, matching her stake record of Cult Icon. Mark Harder trains the daughter of Captaintreacherous-Rocknroll Cameo for Matthew Dugan.
“I had a lot of horse coming off the last turn, and I was pretty confident,” Buter said. “I knew as soon as she hit the straightaway she’d switch gears and give me a little more.”
Shotgun Persuasion saved ground for most of the mile and found late racing room to prevail in 1:55.2. Speaking Of Coffee finished second, 1-1/2 lengths back, while MBT completed the ticket.
“She’s not very big, but she likes her work,” Tetrick said. “She’s really smart, and she doesn’t need that kind of trip. That’s just the way it worked out.”
Jo Ann Looney-King campaigns the daughter of Western Ideal-Merculese.
Live racing at The Meadows resumes Monday, when the card features a $4,390.24 carryover in the final-race Super Hi-Five. First post is 1:05 p.m.
(Meadows Standardbred Owners Association)