Pocono: PA Sire Stakes splits go to Ebbies Lady, Mon Cheval

A couple of $80,885 Pennsylvania Sire Stakes divisions for 2-year-old trotting fillies occurred on Monday afternoon at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, and Ebbies Lady and Mon Cheval were victorious.

Ebbies Lady, driven by trainer Ake Svanstedt, led stablemate Baptism (Yannick Gingras) through fractions of 28 1/5, 58 3/5, and 1:26 3/5 in the first grouping, and a 28 4/5 final quarter got Ebbies Lady to the wire a length and a half ahead of the pocket-sitter in a 1:55 2/5 mile. Tie One On (Anthony MacDonald) checked in third.

Svanstedt also co-owns Ebbies Lady, a daughter of Southwind Frank, with Little E LLC. Ebbies Lady, who broke her maiden in her fourth chance and has now earned $59,178, was bred by Sam Stoltzfus and sold for $50,000 at last year's Standardbred Horse Sale. Ebbies Lady is the seventh foal out of the Cash Hall mare Ebbtide Hall, making her a half-sister to Dog Gone Lucky (Lucky Chucky, 1:54, $672,572). She was sent off at 9-1 and paid $20.60 to win.

In the other section, Behindblueyes (Svanstedt) left quickly from post four, but A Perfect Helen (Jeff Gregory) didn't want the pocket behind her, so Gregory moved his charge to the engine after the 27 3/5 opening quarter. After the dust settled up top, Dexter Dunn wheeled out of third with Mon Cheval, and she was able to brush her way by A Perfect Helen for command nearing the 57 1/5 half-mile marker.

From there, it was all Mon Cheval, as she was unchallenged to a 1:25 3/5 three-quarters and around the far turn, then widened her margin through the stretch, reporting home a 3 1/4 length victor in 1:54 4/5. A Perfect Helen was second-best, with Palermo Hanover (Troy Beyer) moving from fifth to third in the last quarter.

► Sign up for our FREE DRF Harness Digest Newsletter

Nancy Takter trains Mon Cheval, a Father Patrick filly, for owner/breeder Solveig's Racing Partners. The second foal out of former Trotter of the Year Shake It Cerry (Donato Hanover, 1:51 2/5, $2,785,319), Mon Cheval has a record of 2-0-0 from four trips behind the gate, and she has banked $61,210. She was the 1-9 favorite and returned $2.20 to win.