Meadowlands: Pizzelle pounces in Goldsmith Maid final

Pizzelle was third-over behind gapping cover but rallied strongly in the lane and was able to get up late for the victory in the $428,000 Goldsmith Maid final for rookie trotting fillies on Saturday night at the Meadowlands. Sent off at 6-1, Pizzelle scored in a 1:54 mile.

Kindergarten Series champion Sambuca Hanover (David Miller) got to the front in a 28 second opening quarter, but R Melina (Dexter Dunn), one of last week's elimination winners, pulled out of the pocket and took over the top spot past that station. R Melina would go on to the half in 57 2/5, but Soiree Hanover (Tim Tetrick), the other elimination victor a week ago, was out and moving first-over out of fourth. Honey's Sweet (Yannick Gingras) couldn't keep up with that cover from second-over, which put Pizzelle and driver Andy McCarthy in what appeared to be a tough spot third-over.

Soiree Hanover would forge her way by R Melina on the final bend and cleared en route to the 1:25 2/5 three-quarters, but instead of going on with it, Soiree Hanover slowed coming into the lane and R Melina moved back to her outside. Also advancing in the stretch were Sambuca Hanover, who had made a brief break on the last turn but recovered to get back into the hunt, and Pizelle while widest. It would be Pizelle who had the best kick when the money was on the line, and she tallied by a length and a quarter. Samubuca Hanover was second and survived an inquiry to maintain that position, followed by R Melina. French Champagne (Ake Svanstedt) and Paulina Hanover (Johnathan Ahle) rounded out the top five.

"She's been great, really. I drove her down at The Red Mile a few times, and she went some good trips down there. Unfortunately I had to pick off, but it worked out where I got her back in the end. She's been good all year," McCarthy remarked post-race. "I ended up third-over. I had to get going pretty early out of the first turn to try and catch some cover. There was plenty of speed there that middle-half, and it kind of worked out where we could sit and wait for the last quarter.

"I wasn't too sure how much go David had and how much go Dexter had. Dexter got passed on the last turn, but then he came back out with a full head of steam. I wasn't sure at the head of the stretch, but in the middle of the stretch she felt pretty good and got by them. It was a good result."

► Sign up for our FREE DRF Harness Digest Newsletter

A daughter of Walner bred by Brittany Farms, Pizelle is owned by Chris Beaver and Donald Robinson. She has a record of 3-5-0 from 13 starts, has earned $326,550 and paid $14.40 to win.

"Chris raced her (in the Garden State on November 11), but he asked me beforehand if she races all right would we take her for a couple of weeks? That was her first start I think in about three weeks. She'd been sick or something in the Breeders Crown. He was happy with her that night. We really didn't have to do much with her in between," said winning trainer Noel Daley. "She's a very nice filly to deal with and to do everything with. We didn't really do anything with her the first week. We didn't want to take anything off, but on this track anyhow, she didn't seem like she needed the gear that she had on. We took a little bit more off. Chris had raced her without hind shoes before in Lexington, so we took all of them off this week. She's a very nice filly. Andy loved her, even before we had her the first start. He said 'I really like this one; she reminds me of Buy A Round.' That's a pretty good compliment to her.

"We're in a bit of trouble I thought behind Yannick when he was gapping and the two favorites were getting away a little bit. I knew she could sprint, and when he pulled three-deep I could see her coming. I just didn't know if it was going to be in time. Dave's horse made a little bobble there, but she really got back in there, and she was right in the race down the lane. I'm pretty happy with the result."