Loua Dipa races the boys in Adios eliminations
Odds On Mr Mamba vs. Loua Dipa might be the most hyped one-on-one matchup in the 60-year history of The Adios.
Girl vs. boy.
Wrenn vs. Wrenn.
Burke and Loua Dipa vs. history.
This afternoon at The Meadows it all goes down as two elimination races in The Adios will be contested to determine the nine horses that will compose the field for the Grade 1 Delvin Miller 60th Adios Pace for the Orchids Saturday, July 25.
Post time today is 12:45 p.m.
With two horses supplementing into the race at $35,000 eachThe Adios will have a winning purse of $420,000 for the final.
Odds On Mr Mamba and Loua Dipa will meet in the first elimination race (6th on the card) for 3-year-old pacers.
The top four finishers in each $25,000 elimination race will advance to The Adios final, along with the fifth-place finisher with the highest career earnings.
The other horses in the field of the first elimination are Frantic Hanover, Treacherous Lou, Another C Note, Stingman and Apocalypsebluechip.
Ronnie Wrenn Jr. will drive Loua Dipa while his aunt, Melanie Wrenn, is Odds On Mr Mamba’s trainer and his uncle Pete has driven the horse.
Loua Dipa is one of five Burke Stable, Fredericktown, entrants. All are trained by Ron Burke.
“I think it’ll be cool,” said Burke about the matchup. “I really do. I’m excited. There’s more emotional attachment for me with (Loua Dipa) than any of my other ones. I loved her mom and her sister.”
In the second division, from the pole out are No Waitlist, who was supplemented in, Southwind Spencer, Al Papi, Thai Hanover, Melillo, Toast of the Town, Easy Breeze and Sweet Lovin Lou.
Al Papi and Melillo are Burke Stable entrants. Other local connections include Dave Palone driving Stingman for owner Jack B. Piatt III. Rick Hercules is the trainer. Jeremy Indof will drive Thai Hanover, who is owned and trained by Mitchell York. Veteran horseman Doug Snyder trains Southwind Spencer.
Morning line odds, which were established by track announcer Jeff Zidek, for the first elimination race have Lou Dipa as a 5-2 favorite with odds on Mr Mamba at 7-2. Following the two favorites are Another C Note at 4-1, Frantic Hanover (Tim Tetrick) at 5-1, Stingman at 6-1, and Treacherous Lou (trainer Robert Clearly) and Apocalypsebluechip (Joe Bongiorno) at 8-1.
Al Papi (Yannick Gingras) is the favorite in the second elimination at 2-1 followed by Melillo (Wrenn Jr.) at 4-1, Sweet Lovin Lou (Scott Zeron) at 9-2, No Waitlist (Doug McNair) at 6-1, Thai Hanover and Toast of the Town, both at 8-1, and Southwind Spencer (Todd McCarthy) and Easy Breeze (Andrew McCarthy) at 10-1.
Girl vs. The Boys
Loua Dipa is only the second filly entered in the 60-year history of The Adios. The last was in 1969.
While it may be tougher for a filly, it is not unprecedented for them to find success against the boys.
Ellen Harvey, a member of the famous Harvey harness racing family, is a longtime executive, publicist, writer, director and industry advocate who grew up in Washington County and graduated from Immaculate Conception High School in 1973.
She has witnessed success of high-class fillies against male competition.
Her father, trainer Harry Harvey, is a Hall of Famer.
“Well, it’s happened many times (filly beating a male) in the Hambletonian,” she said. “And there is Moni Maker, great filly trotter, of course. She beat all manners of male horses when she was older and they were older as well. Why does this matter? Generally speaking, boys are just a little bit faster as a group and a little bit stronger.
“My dad won the Hambletonian with a filly in the 1950s. Fillies are not unlike the human race, sometimes a bit more emotionally (stable) because they’re usually more mature.
“I think it’s less likely to see a female beat a male as they get older,” she continued. “Can you find a high school girl that can beat up on a bunch of boys in basketball or golf or whatever? It’s probably a lot easier to do that when they’re all younger.
“Once males are completely mature, obviously, they’re always going to be stronger and probably a little bit faster. But I don’t know why there hasn’t been one in the Adios for that long. It’s probably because The Meadows has a filly companion race — the Adioo Volo — on the same card.”
Melanie Wrenn said the class of the horse and the circumstances, not the gender, dictates certain decisions.
“I don’t think Ronnie (Burke) would do it if he didn’t have every single confidence in his filly. The Meadows is their and the horse’s home turf. I feel like it’s probably a smart move, really.
“Why wouldn’t you? For the value of that filly and everything else. I hope we beat her. I don’t know if we can beat her. I sure hope we can. I think it’s kind of cool that the Burkes are doing it. Why not? They don’t have anything to lose, really.”