My Little Dragon fulfilled her 1-5 sendoff by surging to victory in the first of two $50,000 eliminations for the Milton Stakes for pacing fillies and mares three and up, tonight at Mohawk Racetrack.
O'Brien Award winner, Hana Hanover, with Randy Waples in the bike, strolled through early fractions of :27.0, :56.3, and 1:24.3 while Brian Sears played a waiting game with My Little Dragon, working the mare up from fifth to challenge on the outside late in the stretch. A gutsy Hana Hanover hung on till the final strides, when My Little Dragon swept past to score by a length in 1:51.4. Mind Boggling and Jody Jamieson stepped up for third.
My Little Dragon, a five-year-old daughter of Dragon Again, hangs her harness bag in the shedrow of Mike Vanderkemp and has earned more than $2 million for owners the Adam Victor and Son Stable, of New York, New York.
"That's really what she likes to do best, come from off the pace," said Sears. "The trip worked out. I was first over off some pretty soft fractions and I knew she'd kick home when I needed her to.
"There's always a little concern (when) she hasn't raced in three weeks, but she felt good around the last turn and it looked like I had a pretty good chance at that point.
"She's a great mare," he added. "She rarely lets us down. I know what she's capable of doing when she's on her game. She's pretty amazing."
Heavy favourite, Darlins Delight, did not disappoint in the second of the two Milton Stakes elims this evening, cruising home off a textbook front-end trip to defeat Illusionist (Mark MacDonald) and To Helen Back (Mike Saftic).
Yannick Gingras sent Darlins Delight out smartly out the gate with Illusionist (Mark MacDonald) tucking into the pocket spot and Marnie Hall (Luc Ouellette) settling into third. The five-year-old daughter of Bettors Delight set fractions of :27.1, :55.4, and 1:23.4, getting some heat from Tidewaterdragonfly and Ron Pierce on the outside as they entered the stretch, but accelerating away effortlessly when called on down the lane, to win by one-and-a-half lengths in 1:51.
Gingras noted, "We had some question marks tonight. Last week at Yonkers, she wasn't facing real top mares -- around the last turn I had to get into her a little bit, but then after the wire I couldn't pull her up. Maybe I had her sleeping a little too much.
"Tonight, she wasn't sleeping. The whole post parade she was latching on to me, and she felt real strong.
"Sometimes she gets a little lazy on the front. I had to show her the whip a couple of times in the backstretch to keep her on an honest pace, so no one could take a real run at me. Once Ronny (Pierce) got alongside of her around the last turn, she wanted to kick in. I'm really happy with her performance tonight."
The top five finishers from each of tonight's elims will go postward on Saturday, September 27, in the $405,000 Milton Stakes final at Mohawk.
The field is listed below in order of post position.
1 – Blissful Smile
2 – Hana Hanover
3 – Darlins Delight
4 – My Little Dragon
5 – Illusionist
6 – Mind Boggling
7 – Soggy Britches
8 – Marnie Hall
9 – To Helen Back
10 – Vysoke Tatry
AE1 – Dangerous Waters
To view Saturday's results, click here.
(With files from WEG)