Dover: Party Girl Hill resumes winning ways in Matron

Party Girl Hill rebounded after suffering her first career loss last time out in the Breeders Crown with a track record 1:49 victory in the $154,450 Matron for 3-year-old pacing fillies on Thursday night at Dover Downs.

Starting from the pole position and with Dexter Dunn in the bike as usual, Party Girl Hill settled in third while Priceless (Andy Miller) roared to the point from post two and carved out an opening quarter in a swift 25 4/5. Lyons Sentinel (Tim Tetrick) also showed good early speed from post six and was able to get into the pocket.

Priceless continued to front the group to the half in 54 2/5, but Tetrick brought Lyons Sentinel to the outside after that marker. Party Girl Hill readily took the cover, with JK First Lady (Yannick Gingras) also joining the two-wide group third-over. Lyons Sentinel joined Priceless racing to the 1:22 three-quarters, then cleared her past that point, leaving Party Girl Hill first-over and JK First Lady still tracking her.

Late on the last turn, Party Girl Hill overtook Lyons Sentinel and then quickly got a couple lengths advantage on the rest of the field. JK First Lady chased gamely, but Party Girl Hill couldn't be caught and hit the wire a length and three-quarters to the good. Rocknificent (Scott Zeron) got up for third, followed by Hen Party (Andrew McCarthy) and Lyons Sentinel.

The time of 1:49 knocked one-fifth of a second off the previous track record for a 3-year-old pacing filly, set by Shebestingin in the Matron final in 2013.

Chris Ryder trains Party Girl Hill, a daughter of Captaintreacherous, for owner/breeder Tom Hill. She has earned $880,345 to go with her 15-for-16 record, and she paid $2.60 to win as the 1-5 choice.