Merry Meadow Romps Home in Hurricane Bertie

Favored Merry Meadow turned what was shaping up as a match race with More Than a Party on the turn into a romping 9 1/2-length victory in the $150,000 Hurricane Bertie Stakes (gr. III) Feb. 14 at Gulfstream Park .

The 5-year-old daughter of Henny Hughes earned her third consecutive win for trainer Mark Hennig and owners/breeders William Parsons Jr. and David Howe.

"(Merry Meadow's) such an honest filly and right now she just wants to win," said Hennig, who also won the Hurricane Bertie in 2002 and 2003 with Gold Mover. "She's really gotten professional as she's gotten older. She's better than she's ever been."



Ridden by Javier Castellano, Merry Meadow was a slight even-money choice over More Than a Party in the field of five older fillies and mares at 6 1/2 furlongs.



And that is the way the race unfolded, with pacesetting More Than a Party, with Paco Lopez aboard, leading Merry Meadow as they pulled away from the others through quarter-mile fractions of :22.70 and :46 flat on a fast track.



Merry Meadow, who bumped at the break, poked her head in front at the half-mile mark, and opened a clear advantage coming out the turn. Merry Meadow opened up by 3 1/2 lengths midstretch and continued to expand her lead to the wire in a final time of 1:17.97.

"The way I saw it there wasn't much speed in the race, and it worked out great," Castellano said. "The only speed in the race was (More Than a Party) and basically it was a match race. I had to use my horse a little bit in the beginning to go (with) her, but she put me in a good spot.

"I had to be a little concerned not to squeeze the lemon in the beginning and then not have anything in the last part, but it paid off today. She showed up and did it very well today."



More Than a Party gave way leaving the turn but held the runner-up spot by half a length over the late-bidding Galiana, ridden by Edgar Prado. Centrique was fourth and My Pal Chrisy trailed. Scratched were Streethomealabama and Wildcat Lily. 



Merry Meadow paid $4, $2.10, and $2.10, combining with More Than a Party ($2.20, $2.10) for a $7.20 exacta. Galiana paid $3.60.



Merry Meadow improved to 2-for-2 over the Gulfstream main track, coming off a 1 1/4-length victory in Gulfstream's Sugar Swirl Stakes (gr. III) Dec. 13. She won the Vagrancy Handicap (gr. III) at Belmont Park in May. Overall, the bay mare is 8-10-5 in 26 starts with earnings of $693,550.



Hennig said he isn't sure what's next for Merry Meadow.



"The next one is seven-eighths (Gulfstream's grade II Inside Information March 21) and she likes space between her races," he said. "It's a long year; we'll figure it out.



"I think she's better when she has horses to run at. If you watch her, as she goes by the last horse she kind of wants to lay in on them because she's always looking for something to run at. We tried her long and she doesn't want to stretch out too far, but Gulfstream's a different surface and maybe she could get seven-eighths here."

The winner is out of the winning Allen's Prospect mare Merryland Monroe.