Hidden Viggorish on a roll

Hidden Viggorish increased her win streak to 10 in a row with a nearly eight-length victory in 1:57.2 in her Hudson Filly Trot elimination race last weekend at Yonkers Raceway, while world-record-holder Queen Serene won her elim by more than two lengths in 1:58. The $330,476 final is Saturday.

A standout on the Pennsylvania circuit, Hidden Viggorish won the $180,000 American National at Chicago’s Balmoral Park on Nov. 11. That was just her second trip outside of the Keystone State; she won a late-closer over older horses at The Red Mile in Lexington in September.

"She’s been kind of an unknown," trainer Bill Zendt said. "She’s tough, she’s got speed and she doesn’t seem to get tired. She’s not very big and you wouldn’t think she would be able to carry her speed. She’s good around the barn and when you get her on the track she’s ready to go. She’s not crazy, but she’s got a lot of nervous energy to her."

Hidden Viggorish has won 12 of 14 races this season after being unraced as a 2 year old. On Sept. 2, she won the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes final by 12 lengths in 1:53.1 at The Meadows. The time set the world record for female trotters on a five-eighths mile track, eclipsing Windylane Hanover’s mark by one-fifth of a second, and made her the fastest 3 year old ever on a five-eighths oval. The filly is driven by Zendt’s son, Brian.

"He let her go there, and that was quite a mile," Zendt said. "I thought in my mind that she could break the world record and trot 1:54 and change. If someone would have said she would go 1:53 and change, I’d have said they’re crazy.

"She’s been a big surprise for us. Last year, she was kind of immature and got a little sore, so we just quit with her. When I qualified her this spring, I thought she was a little better. Then, during the spring, she was just a different horse."

Zendt planned to supplement Hidden Viggorish, who is a homebred for Harmony Spring Stable, to the Kentucky Filly Futurity at the Red Mile in October, but the horse tied up following her win at The Red Mile in late September. She was supplemented to the American National and to the Hudson. This will be her final start of the year.

"She was a homebred that had never raced; how do you stake the heck out of her?" Zendt said. "She turned out better than expected. We’ve been awful lucky, but it’s better to be lucky than good."

Also advancing to the Hudson final were Incredible Fortuna, KD Girl, Spellyuptothebar, Velma K, Victor’s Finesse, and Winning Sister. Queen Serene has won three in a row and finished worse than second just once in her last seven races. She set the world record of 1:52 when she handed Passionate Glide her first loss of the season in the second heat of the Kentucky Filly Futurity. Passionate Glide, however, won the race-off. (HRC)

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