"We Feel Like We’re On Target"

Winning races already at a quicker pace than in her O'Brien Award winning freshman campaign, I Luv The Nitelife is poised for another big year.

Last season, it took I Luv The Nitelife four starts to pick up her first win and begin to reach her potential. This season, the three-year-old filly pacer already has two victories in three races – but trainer Chris Ryder still hopes start No. 4 provides another peak.

I Luv The Nitelife makes her fourth start of the season in Saturday’s $391,882 Fan Hanover Stakes at Mohawk Racetrack. She will leave the gate from post four with driver Tim Tetrick and is the 4-5 favourite on the morning line.

Last weekend, I Luv The Nitelife won the sole Fan Hanover elimination by two lengths over Belle Boyd in 1:50.4. I Luv The Nitelife has won four of her last five races at Mohawk dating to last season, with her only setback during that span being a second-place finish by a head to L Dees Lioness in the Champlain Stakes.

I Luv The Nitelife, owned by Richard and Joanne Young, has won six of 13 career races and hit the board a total of 12 times while earning $740,824. She received the O’Brien Award in Canada for best two-year-old filly pacer in 2012.

“This is about the way we planned it,” Ryder said. “It took her a couple starts last year to get going and this year she’s progressing; she’s getting better each week and that’s what we’re relying on. Mind you, she’s a different horse this year; she knows how to race going into [the season]. Last year she had to learn a little bit.

“I’m just hoping she gets a little bit out of each race. She’s the type of filly that needs some racing right now and she’s going to get it.”

Last year, I Luv The Nitelife got her first win in a division of the Eternal Camnation Stakes at Mohawk and followed it with a world-record 1:50.1 victory in her elimination for the She’s A Great Lady. She captured the She’s A Great Lady final a week later at Mohawk.

She also won a division of the Bluegrass Stakes and finished second in the Breeders Crown.

Richard Young purchased I Luv The Nitelife, a daughter of stallion Rocknroll Hanover out of the mare Lisjune, for $60,000 under the name Hard Rock Deo at the Lexington Selected Sale in 2011. Young owned I Luv The Nitelife’s half-brother Im The Pied Piper, who was unraced as a two-year-old because of colt soreness. Im The Pied Piper was Lisjune’s first foal.

“I’m The Pied Piper trained down really well; we really liked him,” Young said. “The next sale comes up and knowing we liked Im The Pied Piper, we went and looked at the sister. The sister is a much bigger stronger version of Im The Pied Piper. She turns into I Luv The Nitelife.

“It was a little bit of luck, but also recognizing what you have counts as well.”

I Luv The Nitelife’s foes in the Fan Hanover include Jerseylicious, who has won eight of 11 races this year and received a bye into the final. Jerseylicious, who is 5-2 on the morning line, is coming off a second-place finish to Ms Caila J Fra in the New Jersey Sire Stakes championship on June 1 at the Meadowlands. I Luv The Nitelife was third in that race.

Belle Boyd is the only other filly with odds in single digits on the Fan Hanover morning line. Belle Boyd is 7-1.

“Finals are always tough, but we got a good post so going into it we’ve got no excuses,” Ryder said. “But there are 10 horses in there and nothing is a foregone conclusion. I never take that attitude.

“We’ve got our plan and I’ll find out Saturday night if it worked. We’re doing everything we can to make it work. We feel like we’re on target.”

The Fan Hanover field is listed below in post position order with listed drivers and trainers:

1. Love Canal, Doug McNair, Tony O’Sullivan
2. Parlee Beach, Yannick Gingras, Ron Burke
3. Pertty Music, Scott Zeron, Gregg McNair
4. I Luv The Nitelife, Tim Tetrick, Chris Ryder
5. Wherethegirlsare, Dave Palone, Jimmy Takter
6. Beach Of A Time, David Miller, Jack Darling
7. Jettin Jamie, Randy Waples, Gregg McNair
8. Jerseylicious, Corey Callahan, Wayne Givens
9. Belle Boyd, Jody Jamieson, Carl Jamieson
10. Nikki Beach, Ron Pierce, Tony Alagna

To view the harness racing entries for Saturday at Mohawk, click the following link: Saturday Entries - Mohawk Racetrack.

For free, printable program pages for Pepsi North America Cup Night courtesy of TrackIT, click here.