The two-year-old Indiana Sires Stakes kicked off with its first round Tuesday, July 12 at Harrah’s Hoosier Park. Myrll Vally and John DeLong won the first division of the night for two-year-old trotting fillies in Race 2, surprising their opponents at odds of 14-1.
Myrll Vally surprised everyone in the first division of freshman trotting fillies in Indiana Sires Stakes and became one of the first winners out of the newly created Northern Indiana Yearling Sale last fall at Topeka. Photo by Dean Gillette
Myrll Vally showed some early speed to get the three-hole behind first leaders Flirtinwiththehelp and Trevor Smith and ER Brandy and Don Eash and passed the quarter in :28.3. ER Brandy moved to the lead at the half in :59.2, which prompted Swanderful Pearls and Doug Rideout to the outside first over into the turn before becoming the third leader of the night at the three-quarters in 1:28.3.
In the stretch, Myrll Vally had slipped out behind Flirtinwiththehelp around the turn and was second over for the stretch drive. Myrll Vally trotted home in :28 seconds flat to win by one length over Swanderful Pearls. Flirtinwiththehelp finished third.
Myrll Vally paid $31.20 for the win. The Swan for All filly is trained by Darryl Lyons for owners Aaron, Luke, and Delvin Miller. Lyons also owns a share of the filly purchased from Mast Standardbreds last fall for $15,000 out of the Topeka Yearling Sale in September. The filly is the first foal of the Cantab Hall mare Myrrh. She has a yearling filly by You Know You Do who will be at the sales this fall.
Myrll Vally was making her second career start after finishing second in her inaugural debut. She had two qualifiers to prepare her for racing at Harrah’s Hoosier Park.
Two more divisions of freshman trotting fillies were slated for later in the card Tuesday led by Sweetfancy and Matt Krueger as the early morning line favorites over Flo Lashomb and Homer Hochstetler, also one of the favorites in the second division. The third division featured a matchup between Yo Beth D (Verlin Yoder) and Stella Rose (Michael Oosting), who are both already winners in 1:57.1 and 1:56.3, respectively.