In a victory rich with milestones, Lyons Legend blazed home in a track record 1:50.3 in Thursday’s $162,460 Pennsylvania Sires Stakes (PASS) event at Hollywood Casino at The Meadows, extended her career unbeaten streak to six and completed her sweep of the four preliminary PASS legs. My Girl EJ captured the other division of the stakes, known as the Meadows Cheer, for freshman filly pacers.
Lyons Legend idled outside while Sea Shanty Hanover contested and eventually grabbed the lead, keeping the winner parked until the three-eighths. But the daughter of Stay Hungry-Skinny Dip never had an anxious moment thereafter, drawing off to down Chiapanecas by 3-1/2 lengths for Tim Tetrick while Sea Shanty saved show.
“She did everything I asked her to do,” said Tetrick. “She’s very versatile. She makes your job pretty easy.”
It’s the fastest mile ever paced by a two-year-old filly at The Meadows, knocking a tick from the mark Sweet Ace established in 2019.
Jim King Jr. trains Lyons Legend, who now has banked $156,696, for Threelyonsracing.
The win sets up a much-anticipated battle between Lyons Legend and Geocentric, who also is undefeated, in the Sept. 2 PASS championship at Pocono. That showdown provides a difficult choice for Tetrick, the regular pilot of both youngsters. He gave no hint as to any current leaning.
“For me, it’s a very tough call,” he said. “I got some decisions to make.”
But if those two fillies think the final will be a private duel, they may have to pay attention to My Girl EJ, as the win by the full sister to 2021 Little Brown Jug winner Lous Pearlman also was impressive. She roared to the early lead for Chris Page and scored in 1:51.4, three-quarters of a length better than Sweet Gal, with Lou Lou third.
“She’s been our best filly training down all along,” said Ron Burke, who conditions the daughter of Sweet Lou-Lucys Pearl for Burke Racing Stable, Weaver Bruscemi, Elizabeth Novak and Howard Taylor. “She’s bred to be a top horse. She’s staked to everything, so we’ll just take our time and pick our spots.”
The Meadow Cheer was a terrific stakes for Burke. He entered six of the 11 fillies in the event and took five of the six in-the-money positions, denied only by Lyons Legend.
Fight Not Flight and Lousloulemon took the $20,000 divisions of the Pennsylvania Stallion Series for two-year-old filly pacers.
A daughter of Sweet Lou-Zuluwarriorhanover, Fight Not Flight paced patiently in fifth, followed the first-over cover of Miki In Luv and outkicked her to prevail by a length in 1:53.2 for Tetrick. Stay Lucky completed the ticket.
“She’s really immature physically; that’s why we stayed in the stallion series,” said winning trainer Travis Alexander. “We had talked about moving her up, but she needs to learn and mature. Next year she’ll be fine.”
Let It Ride Stables, Bottom Line Racing and Alexander M. Spacc Stable campaign Fight Not Flight.
Lousloulemon won her division in 1:53.3 with Ronnie Wrenn Jr. aboard the homebred Sweet Lou-Fashion Fluzzy filly for Burke Racing Stable Weaver Bruscemi, Purnel And Libby and Lawrence Karr.
Burke and Tetrick each enjoyed a three-bagger on the 14-race card.
Friday’s program at The Meadows is a stakes extravaganza, with four stakes spanning nine divisions offering more than $350,000 in purses. Here’s the line-up for the card, which kicks off at 12:45 p.m.: a $137,832 PASS event for three-year-old colt and gelding pacers; a $138,495 PASS event for three-year-old filly trotters; a $40,000 PA Stallion Series event for three-year-old colt and gelding pacers; and a $40,000 PA Stallion Series event for three-year-old filly trotters.
(With files from Meadows Standardbred Owners Association)