Meadowlands: Mistletoe Shalee won by Blue Moon Stride

Blue Moon Stride took over the lead from first-over turning for home and went on to a 1:49 2/5 victory in the $157,400 Mistletoe Shalee for 3-year-old pacing fillies, giving her a new lifetime mark and her biggest career victory to date.

Skinny Dipper (Scott Zeron) pushed through from the rail to grab the early lead and took the field of six to the opening quarter in 26 2/5, but Lindwood Beachgirl (Yannick Gingras) popped out of the pocket and took over the first position before the 54 3/5 half. Past the half, even-money second choice L A Delight (John Campbell) made a break in the third position, taking her out of contention.

With L A Delight making a break, Blue Moon Stride (Andrew McCarthy) was left to come first-over out of fourth, and she would rush up to join Lindwood Beachgirl at the 1:23 three-quarters. Penpal (Pat Lachance) followed Blue Moon Stride from second-over, and then fanned wide as Blue Moon Stride surged into the lead in the stretch.

In the lane Penpal tried to chase down Blue Moon Stride, but she drifted out while trying to gain, and Blue Moon Stride was plenty strong enough as well, going on to win by a length. Shezarealdeal (Marcus Miller), Skinny Dipper, Lindwood Beachgirl, and L A Delight rounded out the order.

Mark Harder trains Blue Moon Stride, a daughter of Rocknroll Hanover, for owners Emilio and Maria Rosati. Blue Moon Stride has now won eight times from 20 career starts, and she has earned $537,780. The 4-5 favorite, Blue Moon Stride paid $3.60 to win.

"This race didn't come up quite the way I thought it would," Harder said. "L A Delight was in here, and obviously she was a great filly last year. She made a miscue at the half. I'm just happy to win this one.

"She's just good right now. She's in a little groove. She's happy, healthy, and strong. She's loving what she's doing. She's doing the job."