Ginger Tree Lex polished off a four-for-four run through the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes prelims with a 1:54 4/5 win in her $58,176 division for 2-year-old filly trotters on Thursday at Hollywood Casino at The Meadows. Little Road took the other split.
With Ronnie Wrenn Jr. in the bike, Ginger Tree Lex led through panels of 28 1/5, 58 and 1:26 2/5 on her way to defeating pocket-sitter Maya Patel Hanover (Ake Svanstedt) by a length and three-quarters. Misty Blue (Niko Karna) came in third.
Trainer Sam Beegle also co-owns Ginger Tree Lex, a daughter of Bar Hopping bred by Hanover Shoe Farms Inc., with Ginger Tree Ventures LLC., Knollview Stable 2 and Robert Reber Jr. She's banked $171,282 from her 6-0-0 summary and paid $2.20 to win.
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Islandgirl Hanover (Trond Smedshammer), the 1-5 favorite, was in front at the 28 second quarter, 58 4/5 half and the 1:28 1/5 three-quarters in the second grouping, but Little Road (Brady Brown), who went first-up from fourth past the half, advanced into second in the backstretch and then out-footed the chalk in the final panel to prevail by a neck in 1:56. Atlantic Summer (Wrenn Jr.) grabbed third.
The winner is a Fordham Road homebred for trainer Roger Hammer. She has five wins, a second and a third from eight trips behind the gate, has earned $53,088 and returned $37.60 to win as a 17-1 offering.