Miss Easy - 2FP
There was only one name in the two-year-old freshman filly pacing ranks and it was a particularly felicitous tag: Miss Easy, a first crop daughter of Amity Chef, had been plucked from the Stoner Creek Stud consignment at the Tattersalls Sale in Lexington for $46,000 by Lou Guida. Guida was purchasing some yearlings to race in partnership with his neighbor at his winter home in Vero Beach, Florida. The neighbor, Jerry Swanson, owned thoroughbreds, and Guida assured him his money would go a lot further in the harness racing game.
More than $1 million later, Swanson and the rest of the members of the Royal Palm Stable had to agree. Miss Easy won her first 11 pari-mutuel starts of 1990, simply devastating her peers in such stake races as the Historic-Debutante, the Countess Adios, and her elimination and the final of the Sweetheart Pace. Trained by Bruce Nickells, conditioner of Central Park West. the 1988 Crown freshman filly champ, Miss Easy was also attended to by Laurie Voris, the caretaker of both Follow My Star and Central Park West.
Miss Easy blazed her stakes trail at The Meadowlands in New Jersey, winning eight straight races on the mile oval, costing the Meadowlands nearly $300,000 in minus pools. When that meeting closed, Miss Easy won both the Lady Baltimore and a division of the Kentucky Standardbred Sales Company Pace, at Rosecroft Raceway, lowering the track standard to 1 :55f. Back on the mile track at Lexington's Red Mile, Miss Easy dropped jaws and gave the harness world pause with a 1 :51.2 victory in an elimination of the Bluegrass Stakes. That time was a world record for a two-year-old of either sex, and matched the distaff standard of the four-year-old mare Caesar's Jackpot for the fastest race mile ever.
The horse van shipping Miss Easy from Lexington to Garden State Park in New Jersey was delayed when another horse on the van became sick and had to be returned to Lexington. The delay caused Nickells to miss a training session with his filly, and the public was soon to find out Miss Easy was not Miss Infallible. In her Three Diamonds eliminations, she carved out 3/4 pole fractions of 1 :26.2, but came up short in the stretch, finishing third behind Yankee Co-ed and Cam's Exotic. She quickly made matters right in the foal, though, and when Yankee Co-ed made a break in the first turn, Miss Easy had no trouble abandoning the field by some nine lengths. The chalk-players breathed a sigh of relief, and the Breeders Crown title seemed just a formality on the way to unanimous divisional honors.
Surprisingly. 10 other fillies were willing to lake on the invincible Miss Easy. including Prince Lee Acres' Cam's Exotic. who had finished ahead of Miss Easy in their Three Diamonds elimination. The Canadian-owned and trained Big Bloomer also put in an eye-popping Crown prep race, closing like a train to finish second against older horses. But the mischievous fates were not done tweaking the hopes of the conneclions of all fillies entered, and on the Friday prior to the Breeders Crown event, Miss Easy, entered in a morning qualifier just to keep fit. shocked the few people actually in attendance by breaking into a wild gallop before the first turn. Even her ace pilot John Campbell was taken by surprise, and though he got her pacing enough to finish fifth, she was timed in a dismal 2:07.1f.
The phone wires Ht up the East em Seaboard and the vet examined her from head to toe. but nothing could be found amiss with the miss. At post time. despite her outside eight post position, the bettors were still in Miss Easy's corner, making a $2.00 bet on her worth 40 cents. Some 100 owners, friends, and members of the Miss Easy Fan Club gathered to cheer her on.
Though Cam's Exotic sprinted for the lead, Campbell didn't waste any time in hustling Miss Easy after her. Doug Brown, winner of this event last year with Town Pro, held the front past the quarter in :27 .2, but Miss Easy was picking off fillies, moving up slowly on the outside. In her wake scampered Wedgies, driven by Steve Condren. At the half in :57.1, Cam's Exotic was ready to defend her lead against Miss Easy. but was no match for the big filly when Campbell pressed her for more speed. Miss Easy was in control past the five-eighths. and it was clear sailing from the three-quarter pole on. Though Cam's Exotic dug in, attempting to narrow the gap, Campbell kept a length measure of safety between Miss Easy and the field, crossing the wire in 1 :541. Cam's Exotic was second and Wedgies, racing uncovered after Miss Easy assumed the lead, hung gamely for third.
Miss Easy gave trainer Bruce Nickells his third Crown title. Stoner Creek Stud it's third breeders credit, and Campbell his fifteenth driver's trophy. The Royal Palm Stable won it's first Crown title, with it's first entry in Crown competition. Miss Easy became the ninth horse to wear a Crown for a partnership or syndicate that was managed by Lou Guida, and her victory boosted her earnings to $1.1 million, making her the richest freshman pacing filly of all time. Ironically. the filly she displaced, 1985 Breeders Crown champion Caressable, was also owned by a Guida-managed partnership, LPG Standardbred Associates. Miss Easy danced off with the divisional title, and was one of three female pacers featured on the limited edition Harness Hero Cards, in the heady company of Fan Hanover and Sllk Stockings.
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