Breeders Crown: Lily Stride knocks off favorites in 3-Year-Old Filly Trot final

The "big four" in the sophomore trotting filly group - Atlanta, Manchego, Phaetosive, and Plunge Blue Chip all had to take a backseat on Saturday night at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono as 31-1 shot Lily Stride came on in the lane and got up for a 1:53 2/5 victory in the $500,000 Breeders Crown 3-Year-Old Filly Trot final.

Plunge Blue Chip (Ake Svanstedt) and Atlanta (Scott Zeron) were nose-and-nose for the top spot at the 26 4/5 opening quarter, with Atlanta clearing past that marker. The Hambletonian winner then met up with a first-over Manchego (Yannick Gingras), the Hambletonian Oaks champion, and they would race side-by-side to the 54 2/5 half-mile marker.

Atlanta was able to keep Manchego at bay to the 1:23 4/5 three-quarters and continued to lead around the final turn and into the stretch. It looked like even though she was under urging that Atlanta might find the wire first, but Lily Stride (Tim Tetrick), who had followed cover from third-over in the backstretch, angled back to the inside and to the passing lane off the final turn and got up in time, downing Atlanta by a head. Plunge Blue Chip was third, followed by Phaetosive (George Brennan) and Looking For Zelda (Matt Kakaley).

“Ever since the first week of Lexington she’s really been charging," said Tetrick. "She got taken out in the (Kentucky) Filly Futurity Final, or she would have been second or third, and last week came home in 27 1/5. I thought she was sitting on a good race. I’m really surprised she paid 31-1. They all went to the outside and we took a shortcut, which I have been doing with her the last few starts."

Lily Stride is trained by Mark Harder for owners Emilio and Maria Rosati. A Muscle Hill filly, Lily Stride now has a record of 7-11-4 from 29 efforts, and she has put away $701,858. Lily Stride returned $65.40 to win.

"To get that monkey off my back is great," said Harder, who won his first Breeders Crown. "I'm really happy to do with this filly because she hit a group this year that's just some great, great fillies. She's a really, really good filly, and she just struck a really tough group. She's showing what she's capable of tonight. It's great. I thought I had a great, great filly until I qualified her and these other ones started showing up. They're vicious some of these things, they're really tough.

"She going Down Under. The owners are going to take her home and probably race her a little bit down there. That'll be a feather in the cap for them to show up with a Breeders Crown filly down there. Eventually she'll breed down there."

As for Manchego, who faded to seventh, Gingras said, "It’s just racing; I got parked. It’s unfortunate. I took a shot and it didn’t work out. I was committed. It is what it is."