Call Me Queen Be Sustains First-over, Duels To Crown victory

Call Me Queen Be & Scott Zeron

by James Witherite, Meadowlands racing media

East Rutherford, N.J. – October of 2016 has been quite a month for Scott Zeron—first, a Trotting Triple Crown with Marion Marauder, and now his first ever Breeders Crown title.

Zeron sustained a first-over push through the far turn with Call Me Queen Be ($27.80) to duel down Jugette winner L A Delight for a 1:49.4 score in the $500,000 Breeders Crown for 3-year-old pacing fillies on Saturday (October 29) at The Meadowlands.

The daughter of Somebeachsomewhere was forced to change tactics from a post 9 dispatch, settling into midfield on the first turn while Pure Country (Brett Miller) won a :27.2 first-quarter duel before yielding to L A Delight (John Campbell) midway up the far side. With just over half the journey remaining, Zeron moved Call Me Queen Be first-over and applied heavy pressure to L A Delight with three-eighths remaining.

Of the new strategy, Zeron was pleased things worked out as well as they did. “I’m happy she was on her game tonight,” he remarked. “That’s not her style [going first-over], but things really worked out to her advantage, getting a soft third quarter and then just turn it into a sprint to leave [out] some of those horses that were following behind.”

While able to stick a head in front upon reaching head-stretch, Call Me Queen Be faced heavy resistance the length of the straight, forced to duel L A Delight through a :26 closing quarter to ultimately prevail by three-quarters of a length. Glen Garnsey Memorial winner Darlinonthebeach (David Miller) stayed on for third after directly tracking the winner’s cover off the far turn.

Ross Croghan trains Call Me Queen Be, now a 10-time winner, for the Let It Ride Stables and Mr. Dana Parham.