Harrah's Hoosier Park: Favorites defeated in Breeders Crown 2-Year-Old Filly Pace elims
92-1 shot Continualou and 5-1 offering JK Alwaysbalady posted upset wins in the pair of $25,000 Breeders Crown 2-Year-Old Filly Pace eliminations on Friday night at Harrah's Hoosier Park.
In the first elimination, Continualou (David Miller) raced in the pocket through stations of 27 2/5, 57 1/5, and 1:25 set by Caviart Audrey (Yannick Gingras) and Fire Start Hanover (Dexter Dunn). Fire Start Hanover turned for home first, was still up by nearly two lengths with an eighth to go, and looked like she was on her way to victory, but Continualou found her best stride three-wide in the late going and sailed by the winner en route to a 1 3/4 length verdict in 1:51 4/5. Fire Start Hanover, Paulas Bet Hanover (Matt Kakaley), Caviart Audrey, and Somethingbeautiful (Tim Tetrick) also moved on to the final. Somethingbeautiful broke coming to the wire and crossed the wire on a gallop, but it was determined she had not violated any breaking rules and was allowed to keep her finishing position.
Though official records are only kept for finals, the Breeders Crown Twitter account noted this was the biggest upset in the history of the event, surpassing Kadealia's 75-1 shocker in the sophomore filly trot in 2008.
Trained by Ron Burke, Continualou is a daughter of Sweet Lou owned and bred by Burke Racing Stable LLC. and Weaver Bruscemi LLC. She now has a record of 3-2-0 from 11 appearances, and she has earned $134,405. Continualou is the first foal out of the Real Artist mare Continual Velocity (1:50 2/5, $558,980), and she returned $186.00 to win.
The other elimination saw Thebeachiscalling (Andrew McCarthy) rocket to the front in a 25 3/5 opening quarter, but she gave way to Notorious Pink (Tetrick) passing the 55 second half. Notorious Pink continued to lead to the 1:23 1/5 three-quarters, but Scarlett Hanover (Kakaley) was challenging first-over and JK Alwaysbalady (Gingras) was stalking her from second-over. Through the lane Notorious Pink dug in gamely to fend off Scarlett Hanover, but she finally gave way inside the last sixteenth, with Scarlett Hanover edging by. JK Alwaysbalady was rallying on the far outside, too, though, and she vaulted past both of them right on the money, defeating Scarlett Hanover by a head in 1:51. Notorious Pink was a good third, followed by Blue Diamond Eyes (D. Miller) and Nashville Elgenna (Joe Bongiorno).
From the first crop of Always B Miki, JK Alwaysbalady is trained by Nancy Takter for owner/breeder 3 Brothers Stables. JK Alwaysbalady now has two wins, two seconds, and two thirds from eight efforts, and she has now pocketed $79,407. She is the second foal out of former Horse of the Year JK She'salady (1:50 1/5, $919,583) and is a half-sister to JK First Lady (1:49 1/5, $616,981). JK Alwaysbalady paid $13.60 to win.
"(JK She'salady) was Horse of the Year, and it's been a blessing owning the mare. Her two foals are excellent," said Alan Katz of 3 Brothers Stables. "Nancy has been mentioning she's been getting better and better. She's lazy and she's starting to get to it. She's completely opposite of her sister."
Here is how the group will line up for next Friday's $600,000 final:
1-Continualou
2-JK Alwaysbalady
3-Caviart Audrey
4-Paulas Bet Hanover
5-Scarlett Hanover
6-Blue Diamond Eyes
7-Fire Start Hanover
8-Nashville Elgenna
9-Notorious Pink
10-Somethingbeautiful
AE1-Thebeachiscalling
AE2-Odds On Whitney