Trotting fillies to battle in $145,196 PASS

WASHINGTON, PA, May 9, 2024 — A total of 20 of harness racing’s most promising 3-year-old filly trotters will face the starter in Friday’s $145,196 Pennsylvania Sires Stakes, known as the Meadow Bright, at Hollywood Casino at The Meadows. The card also features an $80,000 PA Stallion Series event for sophomore filly trotters. First post is 12:45 PM.

While most of the fillies are royally bred — and some have performance records to match — a few may be a step ahead of their classmates. These include Elista Hanover (race 9 post 2, David Miller), and Sambuca Hanover (race 8, post 5, Miller).

Elista Hanover (International Moni-Evermore) is the “now” horse coming off her victory in the $50,000 final of the Weiss series at Pocono in a sharp 1:53.1. She’s already won three of four starts this year and banked more than $46,000 this season, which is what trainer Annie Stoebe expected of her when Stoebe and her co-owners — R. Lynn Curry and Philomena Curry — ponied up $240,000 for her at the Harrisburg yearling sale.

“She’s the first baby I bought into, so there’s been a lot of stress,” Stoebe says. “Plus, she had a little bobble when we broke her. Now she’s made it and doing so well — we’re just thrilled with her. Anymore, to buy a trotting filly that looks good and has a good page, you have to pay dearly for them because the residual value for them is better than for any other horse.”

Stoebe says she has no preferred trip in mind.

“David gets along with her so well. It’s my job is to have her ready, David’s to do the navigating.”

Sambuca Hanover (Bar Hopping-Snow Angel Hanover) won the stallion series championship last year at The Meadows, but there were greater triumphs in store. She won the $241,300 final of the Kindergarten series at The Meadowlands and finished second in the $429,000 Goldsmith Maid. On Friday, she’ll make her sophomore pari-mutuel debut, which is not exactly the way trainer Nifty Norman envisioned it.

“She didn’t really fit any of those early stakes — too much money on her card,” Norman said. We wanted an opportunity for her to race, so we ended up dropping her in a race that didn’t fill. It’s not a big deal. It’s a long year.”

Owners David McDuffee, Paul Bordogna and Melvin Hartman gave $200,000 for Sambuca Hanover at Harrisburg.

“She’s a Bar Hopping, which is not for everybody,” Norman says. “But she has a good family, and I liked the look of her.

“I’m thinking she’s sort of a Top 10 filly. We’ll aim for the Hambletonian Oaks and some of those things. She’s staked to everything.”

by Evan Pattak, for The Meadows Standardbred Owners Association