by John Manzi for the
Billings Series
Monticello, NY—It
doesn't seem to matter who Jennifer “the Golden Girl” Lappe races against;
amateurs or professionals. She does equally well against both.
Today(Nov. 8) at Monticello
Raceway she had a driving double on the betting card when she won an amateur
contest in race two, and then came right back with a victory against
professional drivers in race three. And currently “the Golden Girl” is ringing
up stats that the professionals would be proud of.
Her first victory was with
Multitaskr Hanover ($4.60) in 2:00.1, which, by the way, was Lappe's second
consecutive triumph with the Explosive Matter gelding. In today's contest”Coach
Paul” Minore hustled Wygant Prince to the front
but “Yankee Joe” Lee, with On The Podium, parked him to a :28.4 first quarter
before he allowed Minore to take charge. At that point Lappe was in third
position along the pylons after starting from the three-hole.
When the field rounded the
second turn and headed down the stretch On The Podium was still the race leader
in a the :58.4 clocked half. As the field trotted to the third stanza Lappe
moved Multitaskr Hanover off the pylons and made a serious challenge for the
lead. But as they trotted by the three quarters Lappe's horse tried to pull- up
but expertly she allowed him to drift so as not to go off-stride and once she
settled him they got back in the race. However, Ms Lappe displayed her
displeasure with her trotter's drifting and she went to work on getting him
back to strongly challenge On the Podium as they rounded the final turn. In the
lane Multtaskr Hanover trotted to the lead and went on to a one-length triumph
over On The Podium. Fiji, with Dave “the Rave” Offenberg at the controls, came
from far back to finish third.
Although she didn't have
much time to hang up the lines after her victory and get Giddy Up Delight ready
for the very next race, she did however, explain that Multitaskr Hanover lost
his left front shoe in the post parade and they returned to the paddock to have
it nailed on.
“I was grateful that we
found the shoe and that the paddock blacksmith nailed it in place; But it took
quite a while,” Lappe said of the ordeal that caused a big delay at the start
of the race.” When we did get back on the racetrack we had no time to score
down and had to go directly behind the starting gate . And I think a cold start
confused Multitaskr and in the race he tried to pull-up before the final turn.
But what ever it was once I got him back heading in the right direction he was
full of trot.”
After her three-length 1:57.4
pacing victory with Giddy Up Delight ($10.80)in the following race “the Golden
Girl” currently has 35 wins, 43 seconds and 53 thirds in 288 seasonal starts,
good for a .266UDR. Lappe has a big stable and as a trainer of record this
season she has 92 wins in 557 starts good for a .298UDR.
