Delaware County Fair: Treacherous Dragon downs Sea Silk in Jugette

Treacherous Dragon, racing on Lasix for the first time, swept her $25,000 elimination and the $205,100 Jugette final for 3-year-old pacing fillies on Wednesday afternoon at the Delaware County Fair.

Sea Silk (Chris Page), who won the day's other elimination, drew post one for the final and received big-time respect as the 3-5 favorite, as nobody left to her outside and the field lined up in post position order. Sea Silk got away with soft opening-half fractions of just 27 4/5 and 56 4/5, with fellow Ron Burke trainee Just Divine (Jordan Stratton) going first-up from third before the half.

Just Divine pressured Sea Silk to a 1:23 4/5 three-quarters but faded late on the final bend, allowing Dexter Dunn to angle out of the pocket with Treacherous Dragon. Once she had space, Treacherous Dragon had a powerful kick to go with it, and she out-finished Sea Silk to the wire, prevailing by a neck in 1:51. Sweet Treasure (Andy McCarthy) was third, giving trainer Nancy Takter a 1-3 finish in the final, and Trick Of The Light (Trace Tetrick) and Galleria Hanover (Ronnie Wrenn Jr.) completed the top five.

"It was what it was. I wasn't getting the front around Page," Dunn said about his trip. "I was tossing out whether I was going to come out, but it was really depending when the outside flow came, and it came too early for me. We took a shot at getting some luck, and she got out late coming off the last turn, but she rallied very good in the stretch."

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Takter trains Treacherous Dragon, a daughter of Captaintreacherous bred by White Birch Farm, for owner Hot Lead Farm. Treacherous Dragon now has 12 wins from 23 lifetime attempts, and she pushed her earnings to $709,863. She returned $7.40 to win in the final as the 5-2 second choice.

"I kind of was expecting that [trip]. When she drew the two-hole, I figured that's where she may end up, but she raced super," remarked Takter. "She's a very game filly, so if she just got room, I knew that she was going to go all the way to the wire.

"I've got to think about [her upcoming schedule] a little bit because you can't race on Lasix in Lexington, and obviously Lasix made a difference for her. We'll have to go back to the drawing board, but she does have the Breeders Crown, and that's the ultimate goal at the end of the year."