by Jay Bergman,
Meadowlands Media
East Rutherford, NJ — Heavy public choice Evident Beauty marched to
the front for driver David Miller and never looked back, scoring in the
$124,000 first division of the Del Miller Memorial for 3-year-old trotting
fillies at The Meadowlands on Saturday night (July 13).
The New Jersey-bred
daughter of Trixton stopped the timer in 1:52.3, equaling her lifetime best.
Evident Beauty, trained
by Richard "Nifty" Norman for owners Melvin Hartman, Little E LLC and
RAW Equine, displaced Beautiful Sin from the lead at the :28.3 opening quarter.
From there a soft :57.3 half gave the 1-5 favorite the confidence she would
need. Cloud Nine Fashion and Tim Tetrick made a strong coverless challenge at
the half and looked on the verge of going by the favorite through
three-quarters timed in 1:25.3.
But once into the
homestretch, Evident Beauty was driven by Miller and found her best stride to
turn back Cloud Nine Fashion with a :27 final quarter.
Miss Trixton finished
third behind the winner, who returned $2.40 as the prohibitive favorite.
"I felt pretty
confident," Miller said after the second-half duel. "My mare held
strong."
The $126,500 Del Miller
division saw Millies Possession remain undefeated, capturing her seventh
straight career outing in impressive fashion. The Fashion Farms LLC homebred by
Possess The Will scored in 1:53.2.
Dexter Dunn rated
Millies Possession in the early stages, allowing Starita to cut fractions of
:28.1 and :57.3 before taking any interest. Dunn moved up methodically as Sears
and Starita hit three-quarters in 1:26 and were in control. But in the
homestretch, Millies Possession just kept eating up ground and devoured the
leader, eventually drawing clear with a :27.2 final quarter. Queen Of Trixs was
airborne in closing late for second, with The Ice Dutchess finishing third.
Also sent off as the
public choice, Millies Possession returned $3.00 to win.
"I knew we were
going slow, but at the moment she seems to overcome these kind of trips,"
said Dunn of Millies Possession, who last week was parked the mile winning the
Reynolds and followed it up with another overland journey.
The victory capped a
huge night for trainer Jim Campbell and Fashion Farms, who captured the
$450,000 Hambletonian Maturity earlier in the night with Crystal Fashion.
