Godiva Hall kicks home

Godiva Hall, raced off the pace for three quarters of the mile, showed her “wicked” move in the stretch as she blitzed into the lead and captured the $200,000 Kentucky Sire Stakes final for 2-year-old trotting fillies in 1:58.2 Thursday night at The Red Mile. Dave Palone was in the bike at the daughter of Like A Prayer won her third straight and fifth of the season in seven starts.

With a tendency to get a little hot, Palone opted to race Godiva Hall off the pace from post one.

“I wanted to win the race, but I also wanted to give her a good lesson tonight,” Palone said. “By keeping her quiet going into the last turn, she’s got one wicked move if you can conserve it. I knew no matter how far back I was, she could run these fillies down.”

Likeavirgin Lindy and driver John Campbell set the pace with fractions of :29, :57.4 and 1:27.1 from the outside post seven while Godiva Hall was settled fourth more than 10 lengths behind the leader until Palone tipped her out at the five-eighths pole and began moving her forward.

Godiva Hall is trained by Pete Foley, who bought the great grand daughter of the prolific trotting broodmare Amour Angus for $30,000 from the Walnut Hall Ltd. Consignment last fall for Eugene Oldford and his son, Stephen. Last week the Oldfords sold a half interest in the filly to North South Partners 2, which consists of Frank Cannon, Jeffrey Langfeldor, Angie Stiller and Eric Cherry’s Let It Ride Stable.

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