Momas Got A Gun grabbed the lead with a backside burst and found the wire just in time to win the fastest division in Wednesday’s $120,000 Pennsylvania Stallion Series stake for freshman filly pacers at The Meadows.
The event was contested over six divisions, with Dobre Povedane, Cover Model, Half Past Seven, Hillarys Style and Hot Chica Boomba also taking $20,000 splits. Tony Hall (Half Past Seven, Hillarys Style) and Aaron Merriman (Dobre Povedane, Hot Chica Boomba) each fashioned a stake double.
Momas Got A Gun hadn’t been on the front in either of her two previous starts, but she moved quickly to the top for Jason Brewer and opened a daylight lead. While that margin diminished rapidly as she tired, she held off Alexa Said, who rallied from last, by a nose in 1:55. Chaxiraxi Hanover was third.
“I was hoping the wire was coming pretty soon,” Brewer said. “She was getting tired — we went a big third quarter. Her last line at Pocono looked pretty good, so I figured to try and give her a chance.”
Virgil Morgan, Jr. trains the daughter of Somebeachsomewhere-Benear for Geoffrey Martin.
Hillarys Style overcame a brutal trip — parked out the first quarter, first over from fourth — to down Mayela Hanover by a neck in 1:55.3, with Dew It Again third. Did winning trainer Danny Collins think the daughter of Somebeachsomewhere-Style could prevail after such a rugged journey?
“No. She was all over the racetrack and sideways here and there,” Collins said. “She showed a little bit of guts in the lane. I’ve been babying her a little bit. I considered putting her in the sires stakes but decided we needed to make sure we were in the final of the stallion series.”
Lisa Ezzo campaigns Hillarys Style, a $35,000 yearling purchase who captured her third straight in the stallion series.
Although it wasn’t necessarily his game plan, Merriman gunned Dobre Povedane to the lead from the rail, where she was good enough to hold off the pocket-sitting Terror Aint A Fool by three-quarters of a length in 1:55.2. Terracotta Hanover earned show.
“No one really left,” Merriman said. “The only horse I wanted to follow was Terror Aint A Fool. If someone else made the front, I would’ve made a quarter-pole move. She waited on them a little bit, and I was a little concerned because she made a break on the front last week. I got her attention, and she won easily.”
Casie Coleman conditions the daughter of Well Said-Vysoke Tatry for West Wins Stable and Adriano Sorella.
In the $18,000 Preferred Handicap Trot, Daylon Miracle was dismissed at 8-1 as one of only two mares in the field, but she moved smartly first over for Merriman and owner/trainer Bill Bercury and scored in 1:53.2 over Major Athens and Cowgirl Hall. The five-year-old daughter of Pegasus Spur-Daylon Marvel extended her career bankroll to $374,227.
Merriman drove five winners on the 16-race card while Mike Wilder and Hall each enjoyed a three-bagger.
Live racing at The Meadows resumes Friday when the program features the Meadow Cheer, a $223,960 PA Sires Stake for 2-year-old filly pacers. First post is 6:55 p.m.
(The Meadows)