Dover: Little Miss Peyton comes up big again in DSBF

Donna Messick's homebred Little Miss Peyton rolled to her sixth consecutive win, posting a 1:55 1/5 score in the second of three $20,000 first-round Delaware Standardbred Breeders' Fund events for 2-year-old pacing fillies on Wednesday (Nov. 13) at Bally's Dover.

Little Miss Peyton and driver Corey Callahan tracked a 28 second first quarter duel between Mornin Merle (driven by Pat Berry) and Im Won Last Wiser (Montrell Teague) before brushing from third to the lead with a circuit to go. After being strung out a bit through a 56 2/5 half, the Papa Ray-Armbro Cashmere filly rated a 30 second third sectional and began to pull away from her six rivals midway on the far turn. Little Miss Peyton handily defeated Mornin Merle by a widening four lengths; Immaculate Inning (Tim Tetrick) circled the stalled cover of Im Won Last Wiser to narrowly claim third.

Les Givens trains Little Miss Peyton, who has won six of her nine career starts and banked $104,062. She paid $2.10 to win.

Givens completed a DSBF double when Bella Artiste and driver Jim Morand scored in a lifetime-best 1:55 in the third division. The Badlands Hanover-Arts Bid filly clicked off splits of 28 1/5, 56 and 1:25 3/5 before evading pocket rival Tilted Crown (Russell Foster) by 1 1/2 lengths. Banana Cabana (Tony Morgan) finished third.

Nanticoke Racing, Arthur Feeney and Chad Tate campaign Bella Artiste, a four-time winner from nine starts who paid $2.20.

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Valentina Station and trainer-driver Eddie Dennis kicked off the DSBF proceedings with a 1:57 1/5 win in the first division, reeling in Sweet Samsara (David Rearic) by a neck. Proper Lady (Carlo Poliseno) was third.

A daughter of Badlands Hanover-Village Artist, Valentina Station posted her second win in eight starts for owners Rodney Wyatt and Kevin Peck. She returned $2.20 to win.

On Thursday (Nov. 14), 2-year-old male pacers meet for a pair of second-round DSBF series preliminary divisions - one slated as a non-wagering event at 4:10 p.m. (EST) and the other kicking off a 15-race pari-mutuel program at 4:30 p.m.

--press release (DSBF)--