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HAMBLETONIAN OAKS FINALISTS
Danae, Falls For You,
Granny Gui, Pippiwhitestocking,
Possess The Magic, Resortful, Right On Renee, Sing Me To Sleep,
Vulcanize, Wishful Me. Falls For You
and Possess The Magic will select
their post positions.
1ST RACE
HAMLETONIAN OAKS ELIMINATION
Heavily favored Possess The Magic
powered to the top at the
five-eighths mile mark and was never
headed in an easy victory in the
first of two Hambletonian Oaks
eliminations. The two-year-old
Breeders Crown champion Possess The
Magic is trained by Ron Gurfein and
was driven to victory by Mike
Lachance.
Getting away easily from the gate,
Possess The Magic sat fourth in the
opening quarter mile as Radiant
Lindy moved to the top at the
quarter mile mark. But Lachance
moved Possess The Magic just past
the quarter and took control before
the 56.1 half mile mark. At the
three-quarter pole in 1:24.2,
Possess The Magic repelled a slight
challenge by Vulcanize at the head
of the lane and drew off by a length
and half in a new lifetime mark of
1:53.2. Vulcanize held off
Pippiwhitestocking for second while
Wishful Me finished fourth and Sing
Me To Sleep finished fifth to
qualify for the final.
Possess The Magic is owned and bred
by Brittany Farm, who defeated
Pampered Princess in the 2006
Breeders Crown.
3rd
RACE HAMBLETONIAN OAKS ELIM NUMBER
TWO
Lightly raced Falls For You, making
just her fifth start of the season
sat dead last at the quarter mile
mark before making a constant brush
in the final half mile to collar
Danae and brush home to a 1:54.4
victory in the second of two
Hambletonian Oaks eliminations.
Owned by Atlantic Trot, Fair Winds
Farm, Ted Gewertz and Willow Pond
LLC, Falls For You is trained by
Trond Smedshammer and was driven to
victory by Brian Sears.
Sears indicated that he had been
driving Falls For You from off the
pace in her previous starts and did
much the same Saturday. Leaving from
post six, Falls For You was last at
the quarter and half mile mark
before Sears began to move the filly
on an outside brush but was
still sixth at the three quarter
pole in 1:25.3.
But as the leaders tired Falls For
You brushed past her competition to
roar to a one length victory in
1:54.4, just a fifth of a second off
her lifetime best. Danae closed well
to finish second, Resentful finished
third, Right On Renee was fourth and
Granny Gui grabbed the fifth and
final qualifying spot.
HAMBLETONIAN
FINALISTS
Adrian Chip, Donato Hanover, Flirtin
Man, Great Success, Laddie, Pampered
Princess, Please Poppy, Too Salty,
Don�t Blink Twice, Xactly Hanover.
Adrian Chip, Donato Hanover and
Pampered Princess will select their
posts.
2nd
RACE HAMBLETONIAN ELIMINATION NUMBER
ONE
Pampered Princess, bidding to become
the first filly in 11 years to
capture trotting�s biggest prize,
powered out of the hole at the top
of the stretch and roared away to a
convincing two and three quarter
length victory in the first of three
Hambletonian eliminations in a
lifetime best 1:53. Trained by Jimmy
Takter and driven by the red-hot Tim
Tetrick, the sport�s leading driver,
Pampered Princess sat in the two
hole for most of the mile and
appeared locked in on the final turn
as Xactly Hanover led the field to
the three-quarters in 1:24.2. But as
the field spread at the top of the
stretch, Pampered Princes showed and
explosive brush to pop out of the
pocket and with a 28.2 final brush
powered to a convincing win. Xactly
Hanover led a tight pack home for
second while Please Poppy finished
third. Laddie was the fourth place
finisher. Owned by the father-son
combination of Robert and David
Anderson, Pampered Princess will
choose her post position for the
final. The filly went over the $1
million mark July 13 when she
captured the Del Miller Memorial.
5TH
RACE HAMBLETONIAN ELIMINATION NUMBER
TWO
Winter book favorite Donato Hanover
left the gate like a rocket and was
level headed as he scored his 12th
consecutive victory with a
wire-to-wire win 1:53.1 new lifetime
mark with a one length victory in
the second of three eliminations for
The Hambletonian.
Racing for lessees
Stephen Arnold, David Scharf and the
Golden Touch Stable and trained by
Steve Elliott, Donato Hanover got a
confident drive from Ron Pierce to
win his fourth straight in 2007 and
extended his winning streak to 12 consecutive
races. Donato Hanover rolled through
fractions of 27.2 to the quarter,
55.3 to the half and to the three
quarters in 1:24.3. With the final
outcome never really in doubt, John
Campbell got Flirtin Man up for
second while Great Success, who had
a two-hole trip most of the mile,
finished third to secure spots in
the final.
6th
RACE HAMBLETONIAN ELIMINATION NUMBER
THREE
Swedish owned Adrian Chip made it a
sweep of the three eliminations by
sons and daughters of Andover Hall
as driver-trainer Robert Bergh
steered the colt to a 1:54.2 victory.
Showing good gate
speed, Adrian Chip, owned by Forspro
AB of Sweden, got solid position and
enjoyed a two-hole trip for the
first three-quarters of a mile
behind pace setter Standpoint who
led the field through fractions of
28.4 and 57.3 to the half mile mark.
When John Campbell moved Too Salty
at the three-quarter pole in 1:26.1,
Bergh pulled Adrian Chip in the turn
and trotted strongly to the wire to
win by two lengths. Too Salty came
from off the pace to finish second
while Don�t Blink Twice also came
from off the pace to capture the
final berth in the Hambletonian
field. It was the fifth win in six
starts this year for Adrian Chip who
joined sister Pampered Princess and
Donato Hanover as elimination
winners. |
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