Valley Speed fastest in Cardinal final

Fresh off a dominating 17 3/4-length romp in his Cardinal elimination for Illinois-bred 2-year-old colt trotters last week, Judith Lunsford and Lynne Lindsey’s Valley Speed was equally impressive in Tuesday night's $56,000 final at Balmoral Park, making every a call a winning one in a career best of 1:56.3 for driver Brent Holland.

Sent off as the 4-5 favorite after that huge win last week the Henry Lunsford-trained colt effortlessly trotted through splits of :29, :57.1 and 1:27 while keeping his rivals at bay.

Despite having the red-hot Fox Valley Odyssey, who was sporting a four-race winning streak of his own, sitting right on his back for the final five-eighths of a mile, Valley Speed just stepped right away from his competition in the lane to win by a measured half-length. Lincoln Land Stake winner Fox Valley Odyssey was forced to settle for the runner-up role on this night while Maxter (Dave Magee) was third.

Getting hot at just the right time, Valley Speed now boasts a record of 4-4-0 in 15 starts with earnings of $93,465 and he certainly figures to garner plenty of attention when year end honors are doled out. The odds-on choice in the race returned $3.80, $3 and $2.20.

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