Top mare to be bred

The 5-year-old pacing L Dees Val, with $658,978 in earnings, has been retired after finishing second in a race at the Meadowlands last weekend.

L Dees Val's runner-up finish Dec. 15 came in a $31,000 conditioned race, and co-owner Larry Dumain has now stated it was the final race of her career.

“After that race we brought her back to our farm (Dumain’s Haven Farm in Pine Bush, N.Y.) and now she’ll never have another harness on her,” Dumain said. “She’s been a great mare for us and we intend to breed her to Rocknroll Hanover.”

The daughter of Dream Away, from the Precious Bunny mare L Dee’s Linda, who Dumain co-owns with Valerie Kutil and Frank Baldachino, has had a stunning career in which she won 21 of her 53 lifetime starts and earned a race record of 1:50.2. Perhaps she may have had even better stats had she not came out the same year as world champion Rainbow Blue. She was developed and trained throughout her career by Mark Capone.

In 2003 at age two, L Dees Val won eight of 10 races, the first eight consecutive. Included was a 2:00.3 victory in the $70,500 La Paloma at Yonkers Raceway on July 12; a 1:57.3 triumph in the $39,138 Molly Pitcher at Freehold on Aug. 16; and a 1:56.3 clocking in the $70,000 Lou Babic Filly at Freehold Raceway on Aug. 30.

The following year, L Dees Val won eight of 12 and paced to lifetime record of 1:50.2 at The Red Mile on Sept. 24. Among her other victories was a 1:50.4 triumph in a $23,000 Fan Hanover elimination at Woodbine; a 1:54 victory at Freehold Raceway in the $75,000 NJSS final and a 1:52 triumph over Glowing Report in a $26,613 Matron elimination at Dover Downs. On Oct. 23, 2004, she was beaten a length in 1:51 and finished third to Rainbow Blue in the $610,000 Breeders Crown at Woodbine.

As a 4 year old on Sept. 3, 2005, L Dees Val finished fourth to Loyal Opposition in the $331,500 Breeders Crown at Mohawk and later she ended her season with consecutive 1:50.3 victories at Woodbine in the $29,700 Mares Preferred Pace.

Before she retired this year L Dees Val won three races, the fastest a 1:51.4 effort at Mohawk on Sept. 29.

Dumain, a businessman from Pine Bush, N.Y., has owned and bred harness horses for over 30 years and he has had the pleasure of owning two world champions in L Dee’s Trish and Precious Strike. (with files from Monticello)

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