Odds On Racing - Harness Racing

Street Dancer Heads Up Cinderella Stake

November 15, 2006

Street Dancer heads a tough field of distaffs in Friday's $100,000 Cinderella Pace for sophomore pacing fillies at Maywood Park. Both the state-bred lass and her connections are closely united by their respective Illinois roots.

The winner of $303,245 lifetime was bred in Illinois by Jim Reynold’s Freedom Hill Farms. Reynolds, a former Standardbred trainer who now works for the Illinois Department of Agriculture, shares ownership of the Richess Hanover filly with former Illinois Governor Edgar and longtime horse owners Terry Rathgeber and Ted Lock.

Long established conditioner Nelson "Spider" Willis conditions Street Dancer. Willis, a Columbia, Kentucky native, has plied his wares over Prairie State ovals for nearly four decades. Horses under Willis’ care have earned over $5.1 million, en route to 502 career victories for the 63-year-old conditioner.

Willis says Street Dancer is ready for the task ahead of her.

"Street Dancer had ten days at the farm to freshen up and to relax after her last start," Willis noted. "I trained her in 1:57 at Balmoral on November 3, and then she raced in the open last Tuesday (November 7) over there."

In that $15,500 test for open filly and mare pacers at the Crete one-miler Street Dancer finished a strong fourth, beaten only a length for the win and clocked in 1:53.1 with driver Dale Hiteman at the controls.

"That was a good tightener for her," Willis noted.

Street Dancer was lightly raced as a freshman, making just five starts and winning four of those. In fact, her very first career start and win came right at here at Maywood Park, when she paced to a 2:00.1 victory on September 28, 2005.

"Street Dancer doesn’t burn extra energy," Willis continued. "She takes care of herself. She’s very lazy in the morning. You have to chase her to get her to work. Her lines sort of speak for themselves."

She then rattled off two more victories at Maywood as a two-year-old, scoring wins in both her Violet elim (1:55.4) and the $66,000 Final (1:55.1) in early October.

"I was really impressed with the way this filly raced in her elimination," Hiteman noted at the time. "She went a great mile in this Final, and just dug in hard in the lane. She’s improved so much in the past three weeks it’s amazing. She’s a very green mare who could only pace in 2:00 a couple of weeks ago. These few starts really did her a world of good."

Her last start of the year saw her win the $42,000 Sarah Myers on October 27 at Balmoral, pacing in 1:55.2 for Hiteman, who has driven her in all of her career pari-mutuel outings. She finished up her freshman season with $60,000 in seasonal earnings.

This season she began by winning a trio of Illinois-bred stakes at Balmoral Park, in 1:54.3, 1:53.2 and 1:57.1. Throughout the season, Street Dancer and arch rival Free have battled back and forth, each taking turns besting the other in state-bred competition. In June she won both the elim and $62,000 Violet Final, pacing in 1:51.3. She also scored victories at Springfield (in a career best of 1:50.3) and won an elimination of the Grandma Ann in 1:51.1, before nailing down the $180,000 Final on Super Night by a head over Free in 1:52.1.

After winning her Maywood Filly Pace elim on October 5 in 1:53 by one and a half lengths over Free, the latter turned the tables on her rival in the $100,000 Final and Street Dancer had to settle for the bridesmaid role, losing out to Free by a neck in that October 13 showdown.

"This filly has really matured this season and knows what her job is now," Hiteman said of Street Dancer’s three-year-old campaign. "She gives it 150% each time she hits the racetrack."

Coming into tonight’s Cinderella, Street Dancer has seasonal earnings of $243,245, and 16 wins, three seconds and one third in 22 trips postward. Her pedigree certainly gives her the credentials to be a solid performer. She’s by the Western Hanover stallion Richess Hanover, himself a winner of $557,537 with a freshman record of 1:53. Street Dancer’s paternal grandsire, Western Hanover was a world champion pacer who earned well over $2.5 million with a three-year-old mark of 1:50.4, taken in 1992.

Street Dancer is out of the Magical Mike (p,3, 1:50.2m, $1,682,085) mare Magical Cassie, who did not race. However, her dam Cripsy Spar had a long racing career, taking her lifetime top mark of 1:57.1 at age seven en route to $208,209 in career earnings.

Foaled on March 22, 2003, Street Dancer is the second foal out of her dam, and is a full sister to the four-race winning mare Rockin Roll Dancer p, 3, 1:57.3m ($12,187).

Street Dancer does have a solid maternal family to back her up, as her dam, Magical Cassie is a half sister to the following: Hosit The Colors (by On The Road Again) p,3, 1:57h, 6, 1:51.s, a 51-race winner of $924,989; Hathor’s Legacy (by Precious Fella) p,2, 1:59.1, 3,Q1:56h, 4, 1:53.1, a 59-race winner of $345,831; Imhotep (by Pacific Rocket) p, 2, 2:07h, 8, 1:51.3, a 32-race winner of $138,920; Cassie’s Goal (by Goalie Jeff) p,2, Q2:01.3h, 3, 1:56.4, a nine-race winner of $82,417; and Columbia Blue Chip (by Dorunrun Bluegrass) p, 2, Q2:05.2f, 3, 2:00f, 6, 1:56.4f, a 17-race winner of $66,433.