Fillies star in American Nationals

Proving once again that she’s among the best sophomore pacing fillies in the country in the $185,000 American National Saturday at Balmoral Park, Bulletproof Enterprises' Yellow Diamond had no trouble disposing of seven rivals as she cruised to an effortless 5 3/4-length triumph in 1:51.2 for driver Tim Tetrick.

 

Sent to the front from post position seven by Tetrick the daughter of Western Terror-Mattatonic cleared to the top just after an opening quarter in :27.

 

“Tracy (Brainard) said that she loves the front end and that what her lines showed so that’s where I put her,” said Tetrick.

 

Cruising through middle splits of :54.3 and 1:23.3, Yellow Diamond was well in hand to the country's leading money-earning driver as she rolled to the top of the stretch.

 

“Once we turned for home I just let her loose a little and she just took off from the rest of them,” Tetrick said.

 

Opening up her lead as she headed for the wire Yellow Diamond was completely “wrapped up” by her driver as she easily reported home with her 13th victory in 21 starts this season. My Heart Was True (Brandon Simpson) chased the winner every step of the way but was forced to settle for the bridesmaid role while Not Justapretty Face (Peter Wrenn) was third.

 

With the victory Yellow Diamond now boasts an incredible record of 13-3-4 in 21 starts with earnings of a whopping $1,263,671 in this her first season of racing.

 

In the winner’s circle Tetrick continued to marvel at Yellow Diamond’s accomplishments.

 

“She’s just a sweetheart of a filly to drive and things couldn’t have been much easier tonight,” exclaimed Tetrick. “She’s been facing the best in the country all season long and she hasn’t missed a beat.”

 

According to Brainard, Yellow Diamond will remain on the local scene as plans call for her to head to Maywood Park for next Friday’s Cinderella Stake.

 

Despite drawing post position nine in the field of 10 Tetrick was able to work out a golden second-over journey after coming away ninth.

 

“They weren’t going much up on the front end (:27.4, :57.3 and 1:27.3) so I never even had to use my filly to get into good striking position at the top of the stretch,” explained Tetrick.

 

Second-over and a close-up fourth as the field turned for home Tetrick liked his chances of pulling off the upset.

 

"As we were rolling along I was thinking to myself what a dream trip this was turning into,” said Tetrick with a grin. “My filly still felt very strong to me and I could see the ones up front were starting to struggle a bit to get home.”

 

After tipping off her cover with just over an eighth of a mile to go Gigglicious began picking off filly after filly as she made her way to the front. Blowing by the field in the closing yards the daughter of Giggles The Clown tripped the timer in 1:55.1. The pace setting Makes You Wonder (Peter Wrenn) held on for second while Rolldownthehiway (Marcus Miller) was a hard-fought third.

 

In the winner’s circle a jubilant Welch seemed to be a bit stunned by the upset his filly had just pulled off.

 

"This is what you dream of when you go through all the work with these horses,” he said. “I guess if you’re going to break your maiden the best time to break it is when you’re going for  $150,000." (Balmoral Park)