Breeders Crown: 3YO Filly Pace elims taken by My Girl EJ, Disney

A tale of two toteboard outcomes unfolded in the pair of $25,000 Breeders Crown eliminations for 3-year-old pacing fillies on Saturday night (Oct. 19) at the Meadowlands - My Girl EJ fulfilled a 3-5 promise in winning her elimination and Disney spoiled at odds of 66-1 in the second elimination.

My Girl EJ persevered from a laggard start and a first-over grind to clinch a 1:51 victory in the first elimination.

Outfooted by Asweetbeachhere from post nine, Dexter Dunn raised the whip on My Girl EJ to gather speed, but managed to only land in sixth while Asweetbeachhere took the lead to a 27 second first quarter. Dunn stayed put up the backside with no bites to pull outside after a shuffle on the lead, so he angled My Girl EJ off the pylons and marched forward uncovered into a 55 2/5 half.

My Girl EJ loomed forward towards Collusion Hanover, who cleared the lead from pocket-pulling Direction before the half, and engaged in battle to three-quarters in 1:24 3/5. Collusion Hanover kept fighting to the inside, but My Girl EJ nonetheless forged forward while weary from the overland trip to hold a neck in front at the finish. Asweetbeachhere, at 79-1, burst through traffic to claim second from Collusion Hanover while Sweet Gal and Direction finished fourth and fifth, respectively, to take the last slots into the final.

"She usually gets out of the gate really good," Dunn said after the race. "She just left a little flat-footed when the gate sped off tonight, so I had to work her a little bit to not get too far back. She's so versatile - if we got a helmet and a cart up into the race, it would've been great. But she’s done a first-over grind before and it was a great effort; we were sprinting pretty hard in the straight tonight."

A filly by Sweet Lou and out of the Well Said mare Lucy's Pearl, My Girl EJ collected her 13th win from 28 starts. The homebred for Burke Racing Stable, Weaver Bruscemi and Elizabeth Novak - co-owned with Ron Burke - has now earned $1,144,060 and paid $3.20 to win.

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Disney found a tow from last and landed on the line first in a 1:50 4/5 mile to upset in the second elimination.

Driver Todd McCarthy took Disney back from post nine and raced ninth to a 26 4/5 first quarter carved by Its A Love Thing, who was pushing for control. Its A Love Thing then dialed the heat to a dawdle approaching a 56 2/5 half, prompting Rocket Deo to dart out of fifth and shoot forward to the lead. Once Rocket Deo assumed command, the outside tier, led by Tarrific, continued to plunge forward in the charge to three-quarters in 1:23 3/5, at which point McCarthy began fanning Disney from third-over to the center of the track.

Rocket Deo withstood amplifying pressure on both flanks in the stretch and entered the final eighth on fumes. Tarrific pushed forward to the outside and Its A Love Thing surged through a seam at the inside, but McCarthy gathered ample momentum with Disney and slid over the top of all to notch a head win in the final strides. Tarrific took second from Its A Love Thing in third with Caviart Belle taking fourth and Rocket Deo holding fifth.

"The trip actually worked out okay," Todd McCarthy said. "From where I got away in the first turn, there was an outer flow from the get go and I tacked onto that. There were a few moves, and I ended up third-over. It was a long way for her to come in a big mile like that. She had a good kick coming home. It was one of them spots where I knew there probably wasn't going to be many looking to drop me in - it was a bit of a step up in class for her, so I had to take her back; my hand was forced. I was really confident that she'd be competitive with the right trip, and fortunately enough she was."

A homebred for Diamond Creek Farm, Disney has now won six races from 11 starts and earned $118,980. The daughter of Always B Miki is out of two-time Breeders Crown champion Pure Country and paid $135.60 to win.

My Girl EJ and Disney earned draw protection between posts one through six by winning their respective Breeders Crown eliminations, and then an open draw took place for the remainder of the slots behind the gate in next Saturday night's final.

1-Collusion Hanover
2-My Girl EJ
3-Asweetbeachhere
4-Direction
5-Caviart Belle
6-Disney
7-Rocket Deo
8-Its A Love Thing
9-Sweet Gal
10-Tarrific