Bella Bellini wins Weiss split and equals season’s fastest for sophomore trotter

The maiden Bar Hopping filly Bella Bellini, making her first start since Oct. 10, equaled the fastest clocking by any 3-year-old trotter in North America this year, 1:54, when she won her $17,500 division of the final preliminary of Bobby Weiss Series action Tuesday afternoon (April 20) at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono.

Living up to her pedigree (in addition to her sire, her dam is the $700,000-plus winner Bella Dolce), Bella Bellini had the lead before the :28.3 quarter, backed the half off to :58, then sprinted to hit the three-quarters in 1:25.3 before drawing clear to win by 15-1/4 lengths for driver Dexter Dunn, trainer Nifty Norman, and owner David McDuffee.

The 1:54 clocking equals the figure put up by the gelding Winning Ticket over the five-eighths-mile Miami Valley oval and is superior to any time posted by a sophomore filly on any size track.

That previous mark for fillies of 1:54.3 had been established 32 minutes earlier at Pocono by another Dunn/Norman/McDuffee horse, the Muscle Hill filly Eazy Pass. Owned by McDuffee in partnership with Melvin Hartman and Diamond Creek Racing, Eazy Pass also proved uncatchable on the lead, and was seven lengths clear at the finish to run her Weiss record to two-for-two.