Ginger And Fred [$3.60, $3.00, $2.20] took command before the half and never looked back en route to a 1 3/4-length victory in the first of two $81,000 Tarport Hap divisions for three-year-old filly pacers
Saturday night at the Meadowlands.
Driven by Dave Palone, the daughter of Real Artist equaled her mark of 1:50.4 with the victory in the evening's fifth race. Shes A Fan [$3.40, $3.00] angled out of the pocket to finish second, while Precious Stone [$2.80] took the outside path to grab the show spot.
"I thought David's horse [Miller and Shes A Fan] was the horse to beat," Palone said. "She was real good against us in the Fan Hanover Consolation [June 27 at Mohawk]. I thought she was probably the one to beat and when David crossed right over [to the lead off the gate], I didn't think the right thing to do was surrender into the four-hole, so I just kept floating. [Shes A Fan] on my back was the one I was worried about. David moved her off the last turn but my filly picked up the bit and felt strong."
Ginger And Fred, trained by Ron Burke, improved her record to four wins in seven starts this season. Lifetime, she has won 10 of 20 races and $365,412 for owners Howard Taylor, Robert Feldman, Edwin Gold, all of Pennsylvania, and Jerry Silva of Long Beach, New York.
Yellow Diamond [$2.60, $2.20, $2.10] sparkled with a decisive 1:51.3 score in rein to Jim Morrill Jr. in the second of the Tarport Hap divisions, race 10.
Yellow Diamond got away third off the gate, took over the lead from Perfectionist [$14.20, $8.80] mid-way down the backstretch and drew off to a 2 1/2-length victory. Melissas Fancy [$5.00] picked up cover on the final turn and closed for third.
Bulletproof Enterprises' Yellow Diamond posted her seventh career win in 11 tries. Trained by Tracy Brainard, the daughter of Western Terror captured the Lynch Final at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs on June 6 and just got nabbed at the wire by Not Enough in the Fan Hanover Final at Mohawk on June 27.
"Originally, we planned to race her off the pace tonight," Morrill said. "Tracy made a bridle change on her, opened her up a little bit. The race just didn't unfold like that. There were a couple of leavers and we were going slow, so I just whittled my way up to the front and from there she was on cruise control. She's just such a big, strong filly that once you let her go forward, she just does it so easily. I could just tell the way she was pacing tonight I didn't even have to look over [to see if there were other horses coming], she was pacing so strong. Her ears were flickering back and forth, just looking for someone to come at her and fortunately, no one did."
To view Saturday's harness racing results, click here.
(NJSEA)