Brainard, Bulletproof sweep Fan Hanover elims

June 20, 2009

Tracy Brainard trainees swept the three eliminations for the Fan Hanover Saturday night at Mohawk, with Yellow Diamond getting the sweep underway, and the march continued with Shacked Up a decisive winner in the second of the three $35,000 eliminations and Not Enough sealing the deal by delivering in the final elimination, which also resulted in a
sweep for owner Bulletproof Enterprises.

Yellow Diamond, who had not raced (either pari-mutuel or qualifier) since winning the Lynch Memorial on June 6, won her Fan Hanover elim by one-half length in 1:51.4. Jim Morrill Jr. drove her to the score over another Bulletproof-owned filly, Showherthemoney, who was fresh off her victory in the Miss New Jersey.

Front-end tactics were the order of the evening for 7-5 second favorite Shacked Up, who left from post 6 for linesman Brian Sears on a track getting increasingly sticky with persistent rain. John Campbell gave chase with Shanghai Lil through fractions of :27.3, :57.1, and 1:25.4, with 6-5 betting choice Fox Valley Topaz riding along in the backfield until after the half-mile marker, when David Miller stepped on the accelerator to move his filly up to third on the outside. Fox Valley Topaz, however, couldn�t get past either Shanghai Lil nor the leader, and Shacked Up took the elimination by 1 3/4 lengths in 1:52.4.

Shacked Up, a recent winner of a Lynch elimination at Pocono Downs, is now two for four in 2009. She is a daughter of Western Terror, out of the Falcon Seelster mare, Sapphire Dawn.

�It was a short field and there wasn�t a whole lot of speed in there. With a short field sometimes you get soft fractions like I did, and it worked out good,� remarked driver Brian Sears.

�She�s a nice filly. I raced her in the Lynch and we had a flat tire the whole mile (but) she put in a real game effort. I thought she had it in her. I thought she might be a little better off cover, but with numbers like that, she was able to come home in :27 flat.

�She�s a sweetheart of a filly and she�ll go whatever (speed) they�re going. She�ll follow a long ways.�

Asked how Shacked Up will likely fair in the upcoming $735,000 final (June 27) against already-qualified stablemate, Yellow Diamond, Sears said, �Yellow Diamond is kind of in a league of her own with these other fillies, but Shacked Up should get a piece of it (in the final).�

Not Enough had plenty in the final elimination for the Fan Hanover, dominating her peers to pace home a three length winner in 1:52.4 and deliver the series sweep for the Brainard barn.

There was plenty of action on the front end in the early fractions of this contest. Special Sweetheart fired to the front from post six for Tim Tetrick, with 3-5 favorite Not Enough slipping into the pocket spot for Jim Morrill Jr. The quick-brushing Shes A Fan, however, gained the advantage just after a :27.3 first marker for Jody Jamieson, only to relinquish that lead to Not Enough, who was sent after her from third and cleared just past the half in :56.2. Warrawee Kay and Ron Pierce were on the hunt through the far turn, but couldn�t manage better than second as Not Enough opened up by three lengths.

At the wire, Not Enough was all alone by 3 1/4 lengths, with Girls Night Out (John Campbell) hustling up for second and a rallying Special Sweetheart, third.

Not Enough, by Grinfromeartoear, is now flawless in six starts as a sophomore, and has swelled her bankroll past the $300,000 mark with the win.

Assistant trainer Josh Marks said, �All three of them (Yellow Diamond, Shacked Up, and Not Enough) won, so we should be in decent shape picking out post positions next week. She�s a pretty good filly; we knew she�d pick up on a big track today.

�We don�t want to put all our eggs in one basket going into the (Fan Hanover) final because they�ve got to go all the way to the end of the year, but the program seems to be working. They all get a lot of turn-out and everything seems fine.�

Conditioner Tracy Brainard also qualified If I Can Dream for the $1.5 million Pepsi North America Cup this evening, with a win in the third of four $50,000 eliminations. (WEG)

« Back