Dover: Luna Lovegood rebounds successfully in Matron

Luna Lovegood, who made a break as the favorite in the Breeders Crown 2-Year-Old Filly Trot final and had to settle for sixth, was a 1:53 2/5 winner in Monday evening's $116,100 Matron Stakes at Bally's Dover.

Facing three foes and starting from the outside post four, Luna Lovegood floated out for driver Dexter Dunn and pressed on two-wide to take the lead away from Kendra (Todd McCarthy) beyond the 28 3/5 quarter. From there, Luna Lovegood got to the half in 57 2/5 and the three-quarters in 1:25, then held sway over Kendra in a 28 2/5 final kicker to prevail by a length and a quarter. Halfadozen (Dan Dube) and R Lady W (Scott Zeron) both went off-stride and were well behind the top two.

"I thought she was the best filly in the race. She's had a great year," Dunn said post-race. "She's had a couple of unlucky trips during the season, but really hasn't put a foot wrong in the whole part of it. We just took our time in the first turn. She's predominantly raced on big tracks. Once she got there, she felt great and she finished up strongly.

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"This filly, she's got a high cruising speed. She does her work very easily. She's one of my daughter's favorite horses after the name of her, so I wanted to make sure she got there first. She was doing it super easy. She doesn't feel like she's going that quick when she's out there."

From the first crop of Gimpanzee, Luna Lovegood is trained by Marcus Melander for owner Holly Lane Stud East LTD. Bred by Blue Chip Farms and Stefan Melander, Luna Lovegood was a $100,000 Standardbred Horse Sale purchase and has five wins from nine outings to go with a bankroll of $252,455. She returned $2.10 to win as the 1-9 favorite.

"She's been good all year. Unfortunately, she made that break in the Breeders Crown final in her last start, but it is what it is. Now we're looking forward," Melander remarked. "She probably has her next race coming up here in the eliminations of the Goldsmith Maid. Hopefully after that she'll have the final as well, but we'll see. She'll probably have two more starts."