Meadowlands: Walspea prevails in Dr. John R. Steele Memorial

After falling just short of Yo Tillie in a Miss Versatility leg last week, Walspea found enough to strike the front in deep stretch and also evade a pair of late pursuers en route to a lifetime-best 1:50 3/5 score in Saturday's (Aug. 8) Grade 2 $183,650 Dr. John R. Steele Memorial, for trotting mares, at the Meadowlands.

Sent off the 7-5 favorite, Walspea and driver Yannick Gingras cleared early leader Woman Of Passion (driven by James MacDonald) at the end of a 27 1/5 first quarter, only to yield control to 2-1 second choice Yo Tillie upon reaching the backstretch. The 4-year-old Walner-Speak To Me mare drafted behind middle splits of 55 2/5 and 1:23 but found herself briefly boxed in as Lasting Dream (Daniel Dube) mounted a mild first-over bid out of fourth through the far turn.

Lasting Dream made a brief push for second but leveled off cornering for home, enabling Gingras to find room to angle Walspea wide in upper stretch. Once Gingras fed her racetrack, the Trond Smedshammer trainee switched gears, engulfed Yo Tillie with a sixteenth to go, and had enough left late to evade an inside sprint from runner-up Tactical Moni (Dexter Dunn) by a neck. Woman Of Passion hooked to the grandstand side in mid-stretch from her three-hole ride to save third over Yo Tillie, who finished a beaten fourth.

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"She matured mentally from 2 to 3," said Smedshammer of Walspea's development. "She's always shown tremendous speed, but she was hot and moody. Last year, she was better (than in her 2-year-old year); she almost got it done in the (Hambletonian) Oaks with me driving. She's just been better this year. We maybe aimed a little high against the boys - against Super Chapter and those horses (in the Graduate Series) - but today, against the mares, she was really competitive."

Timed in 1:48 3/5 in defeat to On To Norway and Super Chapter in the Graduate final on July 4, Walspea took 2 2/5 seconds off her previous lifetime mark with her victory in the Steele. Now a nine-time winner, Walspea has earned $441,299 in her career for Purple Haze Stables and M3 Racing Stable, and she paid $4.80 to win.