Filly trotters in NJSS

Belle Of The Ball scored her first win in three starts this year and Passionate Glide won the first start of her sophomore season in New Jersey Sire Stakes action at the Meadowlands Wednesday night. Rains turned the track sloppy, but Passionate Glide coasted home unchallenged in 1:56.2 and Belle Of The Ball scored in 1:57.2..

Driver Brian Sears made a backside brush to the lead with Belle Of The Ball and the Muscles Yankee filly held off Patti’s Gift for a half-length victory.

“I know she has the ability to do what she did tonight,” said Sears. “The pace slowed down quite a bit going into the corner, so I was able to go to the front pretty easily. There was a strong head wind down the backstretch, with some slow quarters, but the wind was with us to the finish.”

Belle Of The Ball earned $44,914 in 10 starts as a 2 year old. Leased by Joann and Joe Thomson of Chesapeake City, Md., she is eligible to the $750,000 Hambletonian Oaks on Aug. 5 at the Meadowlands.

“She trained great all winter,” said the filly’s trainer, Doug Miller, who also conditions Macaria Hanover, another top trotting filly who has not yet started this year. “Her first two starts didn’t go well. It’s a question of where her bottom is, but I think she is a pretty good filly.”

The winners of the other New Jersey Sires Stakes divisions on Wednesday night were: Queen Serene [1:57.1] and Heathers Dream [1:58].

« Back