WASHINGTON, PA, Sept. 11, 2018 — Pennsylvania champion Windy Corner showed no signs of resting on her laurels in Tuesday's Keystone Classic at The Meadows, rolling to her third straight victory. The $97,699 stake for freshman filly trotters was contested over three divisions, with Sonnet Grace and Magical Beliefs taking the other divisions.
Windy Corner sprang a 12-1 upset in the Sept. 1 PA Sires Stakes final, but Mike Wilder steered the 3-5 favorite more aggressively Tuesday, sending her to the front at the quarter. She downed Navarone Hanover — the PA Stallion Series champ — by a length in 1:57.4, with Wizard Hawk third.
"She heard them coming and picked up the bit," Wilder said. "I drove her a couple times this year and had her in bad spots. I didn't want that to happen today. She really raced well."
Erv Miller trains the daughter of Yankee Glide-Wind Stroll, who now boasts $192,805 in career earnings, for Tony Holmes and Walter Zent.
Sonnet Grace had a disastrous PASS championship when she tried to run through the draw gate from post 9 and ultimately broke stride. She rebounded nicely for trainer/driver Rod Allen and Rod Allen Inc. in the Keystone Classic, reaching the point at her leisure and scoring in a stake-fastest and career-best 1:56.1. Fast Reaction was second, 3-1/4 lengths back while early leader Keystone Abbey earned show.
"She didn't give me any warning — just two steps and she tried to duck right out, and when I tried to steer her back, she ran," Allen said of the PASS misadventure of the daughter of Muscle Massive-I Believe, who soared over $100,000 in lifetime earnings. "But she's pretty fresh. She was a little grabby today, wanted to go, wanted to do it. She'll go to the Liberty Bell, and then we'll decide about the Breeders Crown."
After her tough beat in the PASS final — she lost to Windy Corner by a nose — Magical Beliefs looked the best on paper. Indeed, the daughter of Cantab Hall-Frisky Magic was unhurried until Tim Tetrick moved her from third down the backside. She blew past the leader, Rush Lane, and prevailed in 1:57.2, 1-1/4 lengths better than Fate Smiled. Explosive Mel completed the ticket.
"She's a sweetheart; she makes my job really easy," Tetrick said. "A lot of times I've had to put her on the front, but today, they were going enough, and she'll always pass horses. So I was pretty confident. I never pulled her plugs."
Linda Toscano conditions Magical Beliefs, a career winner of $151,686 who has finished first or second in all seven career starts, for Highland Green Farms, South Mountain Stables and R-And-I Farms.
by Evan Pattak, for The Meadows