Trailing by 10 lengths at the half, Worldly Hanover unleashed a powerful three-wide move into the final turn that carried her to a 10-1 upset victory in the $75,700 Keystone Classic at The Meadows Tuesday, Sept. 25. Megadolce took the other division in the stake for three-year-old filly trotters.
Worldly Hanover was racing for the third time in eight days, including two Pennsylvania Fair stakes with her trainer, Harold Brocklehurst, in the sulky. But winning driver Bryce Brocklehurst, Harold’s son, indicated the daughter of Donato Hanover-Wherley responded well to the heavy schedule — and the sloppy surface — to prevail in 1:57.1.
“She had a pretty good hold of me the whole mile, and they were going pretty good fractions up front, so I felt pretty good about it,” he said. “My dad kind of raced her easy at Bloomsburg because he knew we had this race coming up. It was a tightener for her, really.”
Super Trump used the passing lane for second, one-and-a-quarter lengths back, with Donatos Jewel third. Double R Farms, David Obley and Richard Williams campaign Worldly Hanover, who will appear next on Saturday, Oct. 6 when The Meadows hosts all eight PA Fairs championships.
Megadolce grabbed the early lead but was shuffled mildly to third before Tony Hall steered her to the open stretch. The daughter of Cantab Hall-Bella Dolce had just enough racetrack to down Bandol Rose by a nose in 1:56.4. The first-over Lima Charisma completed the ticket.
“She felt great. I just had to wait for the passing lane to open up,” Hall said. “The leader looked pretty strong, so I was pretty confident we would have a shot.”
Megadolce now has earned $138,124 for trainer Richard "Nifty" Norman and owner David McDuffee.
Dave Palone piloted four winners — including three for trainer Ron Burke — on the 13-race card.
Live racing at The Meadows continues Wednesday, Sept. 26 when the program features a pair of rich pool guarantees — $10,000 for the Pick 5, $7,500 for the Pick 4 — as well as a $694.60 jackpot in the Super Hi-5. First post is 1:05 p.m.
(The Meadows)