Party Girl Hill just misses world record

Party Girl Hill may have missed Kiss Me Onthebeach’s divisional world record by two-fifths of a second, but her 1:49 performance in the $154,450 Matron Stakes for 3-year-old harness racing pacing fillies landed her in the Dover Downs record books.

The daughter of Captaintreacherous yielded to third to stalk Priceless (Andy Miller) and Lyons Sentinel (Tim Tetrick) through a blistering :25.4 first quarter before making her move up the far side. When Lyons Sentinel edged out of the pocket at the :54.2 midway stage,

Dunn slid Party Girl Hill second-over to follow live cover. Lyons Sentinel put Priceless away with five-sixteenths to go, and after losing cover, Party Girl Hill continued on to strike the front midway on the far turn before winning by a measured 1-3/4 lengths. JK First Lady (Gingras) rode the winner’s cover to finish second; Rocknificent (Scott Zeron) also benefitted from the outer tier and gained into third.

Party Girl Hill, whose only defeat in 16 career starts to date came in the Breeders Crown, has amassed $880,345 in earnings — all this season. Chris Ryder trains the Tom Hill homebred.

The retirement of Tall Dark Stranger made the $179,600 Matron Stake for sophomore male pacers far more wide open than most previous events within the division, and the late-blooming Cattlewash ($2.80) had to work for every penny of the winner’s share of the purse.

The son of Somebeachsomewhere had to exert himself through a :26 first-quarter duel with Tattoo Artist (Gingras) before clearing shortly thereafter — but once in control of the terms, David Miller had little opportunity to ration Cattlewash’s speed. After only managing to rate the half to :53.4, Cattlewash faced first-over pressure from Little Brown Jug winner Captain Barbossa (Joee Bongiorno) up the far side.

While Cattlewash shrugged off Captain Barbossa’s challenge on the final turn, another pair of challengers were waiting in the wings to take their shots in the final furlong: Tattoo Artist launched for the open stretch, and No Lou Zing (Dunn) vaulted off cover. Cattlewash was driven out to narrowly prevail in 1:48.3. No Lou Zing lunged late for second over Tattoo Artist, who was fully extended to stay on.

Ron Burke trains 10-time winner Cattlewash, who has now earned $799,777 for owner-breeder Bill Donovan.

In the sub-featured $20,000 Open Handicap Pace, Goldberg ($3.40) earned his eighth win of the season with a 1:50.2 score over Robbie Burns N (McCarthy) and Itsrockandroll A (Callahan). Montrell Teague drove the winner for trainer Brenda Teague.

From the USTA and Dover Downs