Tug River Princess gives connections big night

Eric Cherry's Let It Ride Stable and Robert Cooper had a big Friday night at the Meadowlands, and all it took was a nose. Their filly Honky Tonk Woman won the Sweetheart Pace for 2-year-old fillies by a nose, and their older pacing mare Tug River Princess, who they own with Jerry Silva, won the $257,000 Golden Girls by a nose over Ginger And Fred in 1:49.3.

 

Jeff Webster also trains both Honky Tonk Woman and Tug River Princess.

 

John Campbell drove Tug River Princess and although they started from post nine, he sent her to the lead, then yielded to On The Glass. On The Glass set the pace, but Tug River got past her in the stretch drive. On The Glass held on for third, a neck back, giving trainer Ron Burke the second and third-place finishers in the race.

 

“With as many horses as there were [in the field of 11]], you can’t get away in the back,” Campbell said. “You just have no chance, and sometimes she doesn’t get out of the gate as good as the others. Tonight, she got off on the right foot and I think that was the key to the race. We had just enough racing room in the stretch to squeeze through.”

 

Tug River Princess, a 5-year-old mare by Badlands Hanover, won her fifth race of the season and pushed her earnings to almost $500,000 this year.