Dover: McCarthy, Harris tally twice in Matrons for freshmen

Driver Todd McCarthy and trainer Andrew Harris combined to take two of the three Matron Stakes for 2-year-olds that were featured on Thursday night at Bally's Dover. Fragment, piloted by Jason Bartlett for Per Engblom, won the other division.

McCarthy and Harris's first success came in the $104,900 filly pace as Naughty Beauty converted a second-over journey into a 1:53 4/5 triumph. I'm A Lou Lou, the 3-5 favorite guided by Tim Tetrick, provided the cover to Naughty Beauty and fell a head short of victory, while Tall Dark Tequila (Bartlett) closed well from fourth-over to grab a third-place finish. Two Twenty Swift (Ronnie Wrenn Jr.) and Existential (Matt Kakaley) rounded out the top five.

"That wasn't probably the ideal spot to get away in the first turn, but it kind of shook out not too long after there I got a pretty good trip second-over," McCarthy remarked. "She felt really good tonight. She scored down well, and Andrew and the team had her spot-on. She couldn't have raced any better.

"That was a good way to top off the season with her. She's definitely a horse that's always performed a little better on a five-eighths track than the mile racing. She's got a great attitude, but she just lacks a little bit of high speed sometimes. She had the heart there tonight."

Co-owned by Harris with William Pollock and Bruce Areman, Naughty Beauty is a daughter of Bettor's Delight. Bred by Jim Avritt Sr., she has two wins and a pair of seconds from six tries, has pocketed $77,450 and returned $22.80 to win as a 10-1 shot.

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In the $110,300 filly trot, McCarthy worked out a pocket trip with Harris-trained Heart For Two, then rallied in the pocket to get by pace-setter Atlantic summer (Wrenn Jr.) to prevail by half a length in 1:57 3/5. R Ro (Tetrick) got third, followed by Nuance (Mattias Melander) and R Candy (Yannick Gingras).

"I thought Ronnie would be pretty hard to get by, but again full credit to Andrew and the team," McCarthy said. "They've done a great job with this filly, and she's just taken a little bit to mature throughout the year. That's the smartest she's raced anyway. She settled nice in a hole and she was pretty excited to get out of there at the top of the stretch. It worked out good.

"I kind of didn't know how much Ronnie had left there, but I felt like I had a lot of horse underneath me. I was happy to get her out. She put her head down and she wanted to go forward, so I was pleased about that."

Also co-owned by Harris with Pollock and Areman, Heart For Two is by Gimpanzee and was bred by Louis Baudron. She has a summary of 2-0-2 from ten appearances, has put away $106,340 and paid $49.80 to win as the longest shot on the board at 23-1.

The $122,600 colt and gelding pace saw Fragment and Bartlett yield to sit in the pocket behind Melillo (Wrenn Jr.) passing the 26 3/5 quarter. Thai Hanover (Jeremy Indof) pressured Melillo from first-over to the 56 1/5 half, 1:23 2/5 three-quarters and around the last turn, but in the stretch the passing lane became available for Fragment. Once he had the space, Fragment surged by the battling leaders and drew off to score by 3 3/4 lengths in 1:52 3/5. Apocalypsebluechip (McCarthy) fanned out on the far turn after an inside trip and was up for second and Thai Hanover held third. Melillo and Frantic Hanover (Tetrick), a pair of Ron Burke trainees, were fourth and fifth, respectively.

"I kind of wanted to either cut it or sit the two-hole between one of Ron's horses," Bartlett explained. "We were going pretty good in the first quarter, so I didn't really want to re-move mine after using him so hard. Per's done just an amazing job with this horse. He started in the beginning and he's still living to talk about it today and just seems to be getting better every start. Today we didn't pull the plugs.

"It's just amazing what this horse has gone through all year and a testament to Per because he's just done a fantastic job with the horse."

A Huntsville colt, Fragment is trained by Engblom for owners Engblom Stable LLC., Douglas Sipple and Peaceful Acre Farm. Fragment, bred by Steve Stewart with Black Creek Farm, Michael Robinson and South Mountain Stables, owns eight victories and two runner-up results from 15 trips behind the gate, has banked $582,267 and returned $3.40 to win as the 3-5 choice.