Cool Cates takes Buckette in 1:56

Delaware, OH — Cool Cates beat Satin Dancer to the front on the first turn and it proved decisive as she marched to a 1:56 win in Wednesday’s (Sept. 20) $80,575 Buckette Stakes for harness racing 3-year-old female trotters at the Delaware County Fairgrounds. Satin Dancer was second, beaten by 1-1/4 lengths, and Maewegonow was third.

Feed Your Head, the morning-line favorite from the stable of trainer Jimmy Takter, was scratched.

Cool Cates, driven by Andy McCarthy, and Satin Dancer were quickest off the starting gate, but Cool Cates got the lead from post two on her way to an opening quarter-mile of :27.2. The field reached the half in :57.3, at which point Maewegonow was making a first-over bid and nearing Satin Dancer in second place.

The group held those positions to three-quarters, in 1:26.4, and Cool Cates trotted home from there.

“I sort of thought we would end up on the front today; on paper once Takter’s horse was scratched I sort of thought we were the best,” said Noel Daley, who trains Cool Cates for owner All Laid Out Stable. “She’s no champion, but she’s a nice filly. She’s been on her game of late. She’s a lot more controllable now in the races.

“I did sort of expect her to be pretty good today.”

Cool Cates (Yankee Glide) has won five of 12 races this year and seven of 20 in her career, good for $251,379 in purses. She has three wins and two second-place finishes in her last five starts. She was the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes championship runner-up on Sept. 3.

“She will go to Lexington next,” Daley said about Cool Cates’ schedule. “We just hope we can dodge some of the good ones there in the Bluegrass. If she’s good enough we’ll drop her in (the Kentucky Filly Futurity). Obviously, we’re not beating Ariana G, but if she has a good week we’ll put her in there.

“They’re going to breed her to Muscle Hill next year, so we’ll do what we can in between,” he added.

Cool Cates, the even-money second choice behind 4-5 favorite Satin Dancer, paid $4.00 to win. It was both Daley’s and McCarthy’s first win in the Buckette.

"We bought her for $35,000 down in Lexington and she's a nice filly but as a 2-year-old she was a little tough to manage," said Daley. "She was this year too early on but she really has been coming around. Adding Lasix helped her and she's also begun to mentally mature."

— Kim French contributed to this report

by Ken Weingartner, Harness Racing Communications