Ginger Tree Lex won her sixth consecutive stakes race and her fourth leg of the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes (PASS) with a gate-to-wire victory in the first $80,800 division for two-year-old trotting fillies on Thursday, Aug. 28 at The Meadows.
She rocketed off the gate from post two and pocketed Maya Patel Hanover (Ake Svanstedt) to claim the front in a :28.1 first quarter, led unchallenged through :58 and 1:26.2 middle panels, and closed out the mile with a 1-3/4-length margin in 1:54.4. Maya Patel Hanover finished second with Misty Blue (Niko Karna) five further lengths back in third.
Ginger Tree Lex ($2.20) has won six races in a row since a fourth-place finish on debut and has now earned $171,282. Sam Beegle trains the daughter of Bar Hopping-Perfect Chance and co-owns her with Ginger Tree Ventures LLC, Knollview Stable 2, and Robert Reber Jr.
Little Road upset at 17-1 with an impressive first-over march to beat favourite Islandgirl Hanover in the second PASS division. Islandgirl Hanover (Trond Smedshammer) cut the first-half fractions of :28 and :58.4 before Little Road started up from fourth on the backstretch, and she pulled up alongside the leader at three-quarters in 1:28.1. They battled all the way down the lane, and Little Road pushed ahead in the final strides to triumph by a neck in a career-best 1:56. Atlantic Summer (Wrenn) was third.
Little Road now has wins at all three levels of the Pennsylvania program after victories in the Stallion Series and Fair Sire Stakes in her previous two outings. The Fordham Road-A Little Laid Back filly is owned, trained, and was bred by Roger Hammer. She is five-for-eight with $73,591 in earnings.
There were also four $27,778 divisions of the Pennsylvania Stallion Series for rookie filly trotters.
Tyler Miller picked up the first of his two Stallion Series victories with the Julie Miller-trained Sister Wine ($9.40) in the first split. Miller moved the Bar Hopping-Cardinale filly to the lead after the quarter on the way to a front-end 1:56.4 maiden-breaking score. Sister Wine is owned and bred by William Oak Racing LLC.
Tyler and Julie Miller then went back-to-back as they took the second split with Just Teasing ($5). Moved from fourth at the five-eighths, the filly cleared after three-quarters and came home to a lifetime-best win in 1:55.4. Just Teasing, a daughter of Captain Corey-Just Joshing, secured her second Stallion Series win for Andy Miller Stable Inc., Jean Goehlen, and Windsong Stable.
Mike Wilder and Caviart Queen Emma ($7.60) inherited the lead on the final turn and then fought off Amber Ale Hanover (Aaron Merriman) to win the third division. Trained by Nancy Takter for owner/breeder Caviart Farms, the 1:57.2 effort was the Bar Hopping-Caviart Quinn filly's first lifetime win.
Berry Good News ($6.40) got a pocket trip from driver Dave Palone in the final group and went up the passing lane to score in 1:57.3. The Greenshoe-Poof Shes Gone filly now has back-to-back Stallion Series victories for trainer Nifty Norman for owners Melvin Hartman and David McDuffee.
Five drivers had doubles on the 13-race card: Wilder, Merriman, Wrenn, Anthony MacDonald, and Tyler Miller. Trainers Julie Miller, Tim Twaddle, and Johnny Yoder each sent out two winners
Live racing resumes on Friday with a first-race post time of 5:10 p.m. Friday’s card will feature two divisions of the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes and three Stallion Series divisions for three-year-old pacing fillies.
(Standardbred Canada with files from the Meadows Standardbred Owners Association)