See You At Peelers, who saw her career 22-race unbeaten streak ended Monday as Idyllic used a track-record performance to win the $193,150 Nadia Lobell Stakes for three-year-old filly pacers at The Meadows, could return to action this weekend at Tioga Downs
in upstate New York.
Tioga on Sunday is the location for the next round of the New York Sire Stakes for three-year-old filly pacers. See You At Peelers has two wins on the NYSS circuit this season and was the two-year-old filly champion in the U.S. in 2010. Entries for Sunday’s card at Tioga must be declared by 9 a.m. Thursday.
“She ate her breakfast here at the farm and everything seems to be fine with her,” trainer Jimmy Takter said Tuesday. “She cooled out well after the race. I’ve got to check her out and do her blood work, but there is a possibility she will race at Tioga on Sunday.”
See You At Peelers, driven by Marcus Johansson, finished sixth in the Nadia Lobell. She started the race from the extreme outside post position, No. 9, and set the fractions of :26.1 for the opening quarter-mile, :53.1 to the half, and 1:21.1 at three-quarters. Horses win at a 6.4 per cent clip from post nine at The Meadows; posts one through seven all have win marks of at least 10.7 per cent.
Her 22-race win streak was harness racing’s fourth longest in the U.S. over the last 20 years and done against primarily stakes competition. See You At Peelers earned $1.48 million (U.S.) during her streak, which leaves her $407,523 shy of harness racing’s record for a filly pacer in her combined two- and three-year-old seasons.
“You’d like to see the filly win every start, but unfortunately [losing] is part of the game,” Takter said. “She didn’t have the best opportunity; it’s tough, post nine. Marcus decided to leave with her and it was a hard opening quarter. She couldn’t relax up front and the second quarter, in :27, that was the fallback. The lactic acid kicked in hard at the half and Marcus felt on the backside that this wasn’t really right.
“We could have raced her from behind, and maybe it would’ve been the right choice, but we chose not to. The filly might have finished further up, so it might have been better for her looking at [the results], but if you go for the win, you take a shot, and that’s the way it is.”
Idyllic raced on the outside for more than half the mile in the Nadia Lobell and overcame pacesetting See You At Peelers, the 2-5 favourite, at the top of the stretch on her way to a 3-1/4-lengths win over Myluvmylife in 1:50. Swinging Beauty was third. The winning time broke the previous Meadows track record of 1:50.1 for a three-year-old pacing filly, set by Native Bride in 2008.
Earlier this year, Idyllic was second to See You At Peelers in the Tarport Hap and third in the Valley Forge and Fan Hanover stakes. Last season, Idyllic’s only loss in nine starts was a third place in the Breeders Crown, which was won by See You At Peelers.
Takter said See You At Peelers’ streak “meant a lot, basically for all of harness racing.”
“We’ve got to cherish these great horses,” he said. “Winning 22 races in a row today is really difficult. She’s just been a fantastic horse, and she is a fantastic horse. That race is past now and we’ll go forward. We’ve got new races and I’m pretty sure she’s going to bounce back and be back in the winner’s circle.”
This story courtesy of Harness Racing Communications, a division of the U.S. Trotting Association. For more information, visit www.ustrotting.com.