Tactical hills in 1:49.4! – Harnesslink

EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ — After a third-place finish behind outstanding harness racing driver Jiggy Jog S in the $112,500 Six Pack on June 29, Tactical Mounds (Tactical landing-Mounds) stormed back into the winner’s circle with a brilliant mile of 1:49.4 – her personal best – and her second victory in the Miss Versatility, winning the fourth preliminary race of the series for trotting fillies with a prize of $40,000 on Saturday (July 13) at the Meadowlands.

Scott Zeron put Tactical Mounds in play from the start, applying pressure to the posts to pull HP Mama B (ridden by Louis-Philippe Roy) through a :26.2 first quarter before giving way to the slipstream just inside the pocket. Tactical Mounds took the lead with nine-sixteenths to go, came out of the pocket and pulled away from HP Mama B at the halfway mark at :54.3. The 4-year-old mare remained unchallenged on the final turn and escaped a gradual attack from favorite MM’s Dream (David Miller) from the third to the third quarter lap in 1:22.3.

MM’s Dream took second place from HP Mama B around the home turn but Tactical Mounds moved up a gear to open a 4.5 length lead at the eighth post. Zeron kept her going with gentle encouragement down the home straight and she won by a measured two lengths. Second-placed MM’s Dream made steady gains down the home straight despite drifting into sixth lane; Nelsonbriteagle NO (Åke Svanstedt) just held on to third from Warrawee Xenia (Bob McClure) after creeping loosely behind cover on the outside turn.

“Louis rocked and rocked the first quarter, and Dave was right behind me,” Zeron said of the competitive pace in the early stages. “I wanted to make a push (forward) ahead of Dave.”

TACTICAL HILLS REPEAT

Tactical Mounds, now a 14-time winner with career earnings of $463,686, is trained by Megan Scran for TheStable Tactical Mounds. She paid $10.00 as a 4-1 second choice.

“She got better week by week,” Zeron added. “I had a lot of confidence in her.”

Click here to view the full race results: Results of the US Trotting Competition.

from James Witheritfor the Meadowlands