The Meadows: Loua Dipa tackles the boys as lead dog in Burke's Adios brigade

There were two notable entries when the box was opened on Wednesday morning for the 60th edition of the Adios Pace at Hollywood Casino at The Meadows. The $35,000 supplemental entry of North America Cup champion Odds On Mr Mamba brought the sophomore pacer back in the spotlight after he had skipped the Meadowlands Pace. Then, the sport's leading trainer Ron Burke decided that he wanted to win the biggest annual race at his home track and give himself the best chance by putting his special filly Loua Dipa in the box along with four solid sophomore colts.

"There's no dominant colt in the 3-year-old division," Burke said on Wednesday. "I like the colts that I entered, but I think my filly is faster than any of them."

Thus, Loua Dipa will test the waters against male competition for the first time in her career in one of two $25,000 eliminations for the Adios this Saturday at The Meadows. As luck would have it, the homebred daughter of Sweet Lou drew into the same division as Odds On Mr Mamba, getting post four to her soon-to-be rival's post six among seven in the race.

Fresh off a 1:48 career-equaling victory in the G2 Jerry Silverman Memorial at the Meadowlands on July 11, Loua Dipa returns home for the Adios.

"This is her home track," said Burke. "The colts are stabled in New Jersey and elsewhere, but she's been here 90 percent of the time."

The familiarity with the track matters but according to Burke the timing is right for his filly.

"She sat the two-hole and won the Fan Hanover and then she had a pretty easy time in the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes," Burke said. "She had to race harder last Saturday (Silverman), but once she got the front I was confident she could hold off the other filly."

In comparing his lone filly with the four males he's entered for the Adios, Burke said, "She can carry her speed longer than the others."

Drawing in with Loua Dipa will be Frantic Hanover (post one) and Another C Note (post three).

"Frantic Hanover was much better in his last start than he was in the Messenger at Yonkers," said Burke. "The extra distance in the Messenger just didn't work for him. He stopped in the extra quarter."

Frantic Hanover finished a solid third, pacing in 1:48 in an overnight event at Pocono on July 11.

Conversely, Another C Note didn't fire over the same Pocono surface a week ago. "That was his only bad race of the year," said Burke. "We think we figured out the issue. I'm hoping he's good enough to qualify and then will be sharper for the final."

Prior to the defeat, Another C Note, a son of Captaintreacherous, had won his first eight races this year while dominating in Pennsylvania.

Odds On Mr. Mamba put in two strong miles in defeating the 2025 Horse of the Year Beau Jangles in both the North America Cup trials and the rich final on June 13 for trainer Melanie Wrenn. The homebred gelding by Odds On Equuleus came up short in finishing third in an Indiana Sire Stakes event on June 26 and missed two weeks before returning with Lasix for a July 11 qualifying mile at Harrah's Hoosier Park where he won in 1:51 1/5 with a final half in 54 seconds as a prep for the Adios. James MacDonald picked up the drive in Ontario and will follow Odds On Mr Mamba to The Meadows Saturday.

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Burke's hard-hitting duo of Al Papi and Melillo landed good spots in the second $25,000 elimination carded as race seven.

"Al Papi trained better than he has all year this morning," said Burke of the Meadowlands Pace runner-up. "I think that trip he went in the Pace may have broken him out."

Al Papi has been incredibly consistent racing at the top level this year but has yet to win in seven starts. That could change given the Papi Rob Hanover-sired colt's favorable draw (post three) on Saturday.

Al Papi brings a powerful resume into the Adios that the includes a second-place finish in the Messenger at Yonkers and Meadowlands Pace, as well as a close fourth in the North America Cup final. On the board 10 times in 11 tries as a freshman, Al Papi was rated the 2-1 favorite for this division.

Melillo (post five) didn't get the best of trips in the Meadowlands Pace but was right there on the wire, missing the board and finishing fourth in a blanket finish. "He went a big trip," said Burke of Melillo, a homebred by Sweet Lou.

A 1:48 4/5 winner in a Pennsylvania Sire Stakes this year, Melillo has shown the ability to race from on- or off-the-pace with similar results.

Fellow supplemental entry No Waitlist (post one) ships in for the Adios for trainer Blake MacIntosh in career form. Another sophomore that has advanced after the addition of Lasix, No Waitlist paced to a 1:50 victory at Woodbine Mohawk Park last Saturday (July 11), overcoming post nine in the process. A son of Cattlewash that was a finalist in the North America Cup, No Waitlist has an abundance of early speed.

Sweet Lovin Lou, an elimination winner of the North America Cup and more recently only a length off and fifth in the Meadowlands Pace, drew post eight for trainer Dan Lagace. Sweet Lovin Lou took his 1:48 2/5 career mark in capturing a North America Cup elimination on June 6.

Five of the 15 horses entered for the Adios are by leading sire Sweet Lou, and that includes Toast Of The Town, a gelding from the Noel Daley stable that drew post six. Toast Of The Town was a handy 1:48 3/5 winner at Pocono on July 11, paving the way for his return to stakes action.

The top four horses in each elimination, plus the fifth-place finisher from the two races with the higher lifetime earnings, are guaranteed a spot in the July 25 Adios final.