Kiss Me Onthebeach, who had never been better than third in a stakes race during her first 17 career starts, changed her luck in a huge way on Saturday night (August 13) at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono.
Coming home strongly after wild front-end numbers, Kiss Me Onthebeach won her division -- the fourth and final preliminary of the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes -- in 1:48.3, a world record for three-year-old pacing fillies on a five-eighths mile track.
Another daughter of Somebeachsomewhere, Darlinonthebeach, took her second Sire Stakes prelim win with a 1:48.4 victory.
The new world champion Kiss Me Onthebeach, to be fair, had been “there or thereabouts” against top fillies throughout her career before Saturday at Pocono, getting cheques in 12 of 14 starts in stakes competition and winning her only three starts in overnights for trainer Chris Ryder and Bella Racing LTD. And she used every bit of Hall of Famer John Campbell’s sulky magic to make her breakthrough in a big way while defeating Newborn Sassy by a neck.
The 2-5 favourite, I Said Diamonds, left strongly from mid-pack in the field of five, but she met resistance from East Side Hanover, with the pole-sitter using racetrack geometry to force her flying rival to tuck well before an astonishing :25.2 quarter. East Side Hanover had her earplugs out coming into the stretch the front time, and soon so did I Said Diamonds, who rushed out for command five-sixteenths and was stretched by “East Side” before making to the top into the second turn, just before the “:52.3” clocking flashed and had the crowd buzzing.
Shezarealdeal was the first to move around the tiring East Side Hanover and tucked in the pocket, with Campbell and Kiss Me Onthebeach going on from behind her to challenge the leader to the 1:20.3 three-quarters mark. When “Kiss Me” took the advantage late on the turn, Newport Sassy, who hadn’t been far back, tipped outside, and that filly ate into the two-length advantage the leader still had at mid-stretch, but came up short in the photo, with I Said Diamonds settling for third, a total of four lengths behind.
The 1:48.3 mile lowered by a tick the world divisional standard set by I Luv The Nitelife at Pocono just under three years ago (August 17, 2013). The winner lowered her record by three full seconds, and with her first stakes victory raised her bankroll to $131,075 while returning $53.40 to win to her scattered backers.
Had Darlinonthebeach raced 17 minutes earlier, her 1:48.4 clocking would have put her name alongside that of I Luv The Nitelife, however, temporarily; in any case, “Darlin” returned to the track where she had had a problem and had to be pulled up in the Lynch Final on July 2, putting to rest any “bad vibes” or whatnot with her authoritative triumph. Driver Matt Kakaley settled the winner of over half a million dollars in fourth early as Call Me Queen Be worked to get around Lispatty in a :25.4 quarter, then got to the front past the finish line the first time and hung up middle splits of :54 and 1:21.4.
Call Me Queen Be had stayed tight in the pocket, and after a first-over move from Lispatty was shaken off, the “Queen” mounted a strong charge in the famed Pocono Pike, but Kalaley’s filly still had a :27 last quarter in her and kept her adversary at bay by one and a quarter lengths, with longshot Skinny Dipper third after an inside journey. Darlinonthebeach, who was sent off at 7-5 from the outside post six against Call Me Queen Be’s 4-5 favouritism, is trained by Nancy Johansson for owner/breeder White Birch Farm, and lowered her mark by two-fifths of a second.
With Pure Country off at Northfield again taking on the boys in the Milstein Pace (she was second to Betting Line after finishing fourth in the Cane Pace on Hambletonian Day), Newborn Sassy saw her 25 points earned in finishing second Saturday bring her unofficially to 100 points in the Sire Stakes preliminaries (35-25-15-10-8-5-4-2-1) to lead her group with a 4-1-2-1 record. With stakes conditions limiting the $350,000 Championship, which will be held at The Meadows on Saturday, September 10, to eight, the following horses also get automatic qualification for the Championship, listed in points order: Darlinonthebeach (95), Call Me Queen Be (90), I Said Diamonds and Pure Country (tied at 85), Kiss Me Onthebeach (65), Shesasmokinlady (58), and Lispatty (35). Skinny Dipper (31) and Shezarealdeal (30) will be programmed as Also-Eligibles and can draw into the race until 6 p.m. the day before. The next nine highest point-earners not in the Championship will have a $50,000 Consolation on the condition sheet for them.
Tomorrow night at Pocono, these fillies’ Stallion Series counterparts will race four divisions of their final preliminary leg, going in slots 3, 4, 7, and 8. The two double winners in the three prelims so far will headline the first two divisions: Dismissal has post three in race three, while Terror At Night has post five in race four. The top nine point-winners after tomorrow’s Stallion Series racing will become eligible for their $40,000 Championship, to be held right here at Pocono on Sunday, September 11.
And while the top eight point-earners didn’t change because of the results of tonight’s Sire Stakes racing, we can assure you of no such certainty tomorrow: after the top five horses, who look pretty safe, there are fewer than 20 points between the horse currently sitting sixth and the two horses tied for 20th, with 16 of the top 21 entered for Sunday.
(With files from PHHA/Pocono)