Sir Pinocchio and Allegiant emerged with the victories in the Matrons for sophomore trotters on Thursday evening at Bally's Dover.
The $152,800 event for the colts and geldings saw a scramble off the gate as Seven Reps (Yannick Gingras), Hankins Hanover (David Miller) and Super Duper Cooper (Todd McCarthy) all showed speed from the outside. Seven Reps yielded to Hankins Hanover after the 26 4/5 quarter and then Hankins Hanover was overtaken by 3-5 favorite Highland Kismet (Tim Tetrick) beyond that station.
Jason Bartlett swung Sir Pinocchio off the cones from fourth just before the 55 second half-mile station and then was able to drop into the pocket before the 1:23 three-quarters as Hankins Hanover began to retreat. Sir Pinocchio's good fortune continued from there as Highland Kismet miscued on the final bend, leaving Sir Pinocchio with a multiple-length advantage turning into the stretch.
He needed that jump he had as Private Access (Louis Roy), who wound up mired near the back of the pack on dull cover and then was left two-wide and without cover when Super Duper Cooper also ran on the last turn, hit top gear in the lane. Sir Pinocchio needed the wire in the closing strides and was able to find it in time, holding off Private Access by a head in 1:52 4/5. Elhelpski (Peter Wrenn), Seven Reps and Hankins Hanover rounded out the first five finishers.
"There was a lot of action early. I knew there were a lot of leavers to our outside. I was just trying to stay ahead of Highland Kismet, but I got sucked in on the rail and had to stay there," remarked Bartlett post-race. "I could have let a couple of people in, but I wanted to push the pace a little bit. Timmy had me where he wanted me, but the horse overcame it.
"He shows a lot of front-end, but actually he's better off a helmet. We were always forced in New York to push forward and he's always been the favorite, so that's where he's ended up most of the time. All around he's just a great horse. Eddie (trainer Ed Hart), thoughout the year, has done an amazing job with this horse, and there's nobody in this business that deserves it more than that guy."
Bred by owner Carolyn Atherton, Sir Pinocchio is a gelding by Met's Hall. He has 13 victories, five seconds and two thirds from 24 appearances, has put away $689,329 and returned $5.40 to win.
"He's just a really very nice horse. He takes care of himself," Hart said. "I try to keep him happy. We turn him out and take it easy on him. He's just one of those special type of horses.
"He'll have a few months off and come back next year as a 4-year-old. We'll stake him up and hope for another good year."
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In the $146,050 filly final, Allegiant (Scott Zeron), the Breeders Crown champion, got away quickly from post five and led early but yielded to a two-wide R Melina (McCarthy) past the 27 1/5 quarter. Rather than stay in the pocket like she did in that Breeders Crown triumph, Zeron re-moved Allegiant to the front, and she took back over control from R Melina well before the 55 4/5 half.
Allegiant was unchallenged through three-quarters in 1:24 1/5 and had no anxious moments from there as she pulled away from R Melina for a 2 3/4 length tally in 1:51 1/5. She Shaq (Ake Svanstedt), Star Attraction (Tetrick) and Emoji Hanover (Roy) rounded out the top-five.
"I was just going to see how she felt getting off the gate," Zeron remarked about his strategy. "I don't know, I thought it might be the last race of the life, and I wanted to make sure I gave her every opportunity to win."
Linda Toscano took over training the daughter of Tactical Landing from Vernon Beachy following an eighth-place result in the Kentucky Filly Futurity and improved to three-for-three out of her stable.
"She's been an amazing filly all year long. She had one bad race," Toscano offered. "Vernon has done an incredible job with her. It's not often you get a call that says can you race one in these kind of banner races and have them come in as good a shape as she did. She was absolutely perfect. It's kind of been fun to be part of a really, really good team. Congratulations to the owners and everything like that. She trained on a half-mile track her whole life, so I wasn't worried about the five-eighths at all."
Bred by Atlantic Trot Inc. and Steve Stewart and owned by Ryan Smith, Allegiant has a summary of 11-4-3 from 26 outings, has banked $1,006,222 and paid $3.20 to win as the favorite.
Future plans for Allegiant are up in the air for now other than she is scheduled to go through the ring in the inaugural North American Standardbred Mixed Sale on December 17 at the Mt. Hope Event Center in Ohio.
"She's going to the sale. She has been invited to the (FanDuel) mares final," noted Toscano. "We'll have to make a decision based upon how she comes out. It may be her last race or maybe we will see her again."