In a battle of three unbeaten two-year-old trotting fillies, Broadway Donna was much the best in her division of the $247,844 Pennsylvania Sire Stakes event Wednesday at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, winning in hand for driver David Miller in 1:54.1.
The daughter of Donato Hanover-Broadway Schooner was wide for the lead early, making the top before the :28 quarter, posting middle splits of :57.1 and 1:25.4, then powering home in :28.2 to score by three and a half lengths. Windowshopper and Womans Will, the other undefeated misses going into the contest, sat 2-3 most of the way and retained those positions to the wire.
Ordinarily a clocking of 1:54.1 for a baby trotting filly might send one scurrying for the track record table, but not if you recognize the winner’s dam – she is a full sister to Cooler Schooner, whose 1:51.3 mile at Pocono two years ago was, at the time, the fastest mile ever by a freshman trotter, bar none. Trainer Jim Campbell and owner/breeder Fashion Farms LLC were the team behind Cooler Schooner, and they have another precocious baby here in Broadway Donna.
Like Broadway Donna, Whitelake Hanover is now perfect in four purse starts, and is the only other filly to have two Sire Stakes wins, after a 1:55.2 victory. David Miller was again in the sulky as the daughter of Explosive Matter–Whispering Wind quarter-moved en route to victory for new trainer Fred Grant and owners Omar Beiler, Dennis Coons, and Susan Oakes.
Encore Gold and trainer/driver Charlie Norris overcame the uncovered route to post an 18-1 victory in 1:56.4. A daughter of Encore Encore out of Striking Gold K, Encore Gold bears the stamp of owner Bob Key in any direction you look.
Kathy Parker (the two-year-old, not the new Hall of Fame Communicator) got the job done in the other Sires cut, coming home in :28.3 to finish out a 1:56.3 victory. The daughter of Andover Hall–Mallelujah was driven by Yannick Gingras for trainer Jimmy Takter and owners Christina Takter, Brixton Medical Inc., R A W Equine Inc., and Joyce McClelland.
(PHHA / Pocono)