Dover: Diabolic Hill seeks Matron success in final outing of 2026

Annie Stoebe never doubted Diabolic Hill, and after watching him capture the Grade 1 Breeders Crown for 3-year-old male trotters last month at Eldorado Scioto Downs, the colt's trainer and co-owner had one word to describe the outcome.

"Validating," Stoebe said. "That would be a big word for me when it comes to this. It's just validating. I did it, my horse did it, my team did it; we have our Crown. He deserved it."

Diabolic Hill's crowning moment came 12 weeks after his season's most disappointing result, when he finished eighth in his Hambletonian Stakes elimination on Aug. 1 at the Meadowlands and failed to advance to the million-dollar Grade 1 final. But Diabolic Hill, who this year had three second-place finishes and one third-place finish in his four starts heading to the Hambletonian, was put on Lasix thereafter and rebounded.

"Diabolic was the first colt I ever trained, and our biggest goal was the Hambo," Stoebe said. "That was one of the hardest weeks of my life. It was hard to even race on Hambletonian Day. But I still showed up and still did everything, and then I just poured all my energy and focus into the Crown.

"It took a while for us to diagnose, but once we found out he was bleeding, he turned right around. I always knew the horse was a champion. I never lost faith in him. It was great to get it figured out; we were able to focus on the solution instead of the problem. It ended up paying off."

In his first race on Lasix, Diabolic Hill finished second in the $300,000 Earl Beal Jr. Memorial (G2) at Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania, missing by a neck against Inexpressable. Next, he was third in his elimination for the New Jersey Classic and then a locked-in seventh in the $250,000 final, beaten by only 2 1/2 lengths.

The son of Muscle Hill-Crysti Dream has not lost since.

He grabbed his first victory of the season in a conditioned race at Harrah's Philadelphia, then won his Breeders Crown elimination by a quarter-length over Hambletonian champ Apex in 1:51 2/5 and the $664,500 final by one length over Kentucky Futurity winner Nix Nacken in a career-best 1:50 4/5.

"It was so surreal," Stoebe said about winning the Breeders Crown. "I had a rough year this year. For me, it just showed that at the end of the day, hard work does eventually pay off, and I was able to finally take a big, deep breath."

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On Thursday night (Nov. 12), Diabolic Hill will look to extend his winning streak to four as he closes out his campaign in the $124,200 Matron Stakes (G2) for sophomore male trotters at Bally's Dover. He will leave from post five with regular driver Todd McCarthy and is the 5-2 morning-line favorite.

"He's just feeling so good and so strong; I figured why not finish the year off on a good note and be ready for next year," Stoebe said.

As the winner of the Breeders Crown, Diabolic Hill was invited to compete against older rivals in the $300,000 FanDuel Open Trot Championship (G1) this Saturday at the Meadowlands - a race that includes 4-year-olds On To Norway and Super Chapter, who are ranked No. 2 and No. 3, respectively, in the sport's Top 10 poll.

Stoebe, who owns Diabolic Hill with Mario Mazza and AC Crawford Racing Stable, considered racing in the FanDuel, but the group decided the Matron was the better option.

"If we weren't planning to bring him back at (age) 4, we probably would have taken a shot in the FanDuel," Stoebe said. "But I think a horse's mentality is so important, and I would rather race him against other 3-year-olds finishing the year strong because we're bringing him back next year. I want him to come back being the big dog.

"I know On To Norway and Super Chapter are going to be slugging it out in the FanDuel. It's Ali versus Tyson. I don't want to be stuck in that boxing match. Do I think my little demon can give them a run for their money? Absolutely. I just don't want to do that right now."

For his career, Diabolic Hill has won eight of 21 races, including the Valley Victory Stakes (G1) in his final start of 2025. He has hit the board on nine other occasions and earned $1.08 million lifetime. And while the plan is for him to return to action in 2027, Stoebe revealed in October that her millionaire trotting mare Elista Hanover was retired and recently held a farewell party in her honor.

The Matron for 3-year-old male trotters is one of four Grade 2 Matron Stakes for sophomores on Thursday's card at Bally's Dover. Al Papi is the 5-2 morning-line favorite in the event for male pacers, Loua Dipa is the 5-2 choice in the event for filly pacers, and Custom gets the 5-2 nod in the race for filly trotters.

The complete fields for Thursday's Matron Stakes for 3-year-olds, with post positions, drivers, trainers and morning-line odds:

$171,400 Grade 2 Matron Stakes 3-Year-Old Filly Trot (Race 6)

1-Chestnut Kelly (Tim Tetrick/Scott DiDomenico) 12-1

2-Julie Palema (Andy Miller/Julie Miller) 8-1

3-Ginger Tree Lex (Andy McCarthy/Sam Beegle) 10-1

4-Custom (Jason Bartlett/Petter Engblom) 5-2

5-R Ro (Todd McCarthy/John Butenschoen) 6-1

6-Who Dares Wins (Åke Svanstedt/Åke Svanstedt) 12-1

7-Little Road (Brady Brown/Roger Hammer) 7-2

8-Storybook Love (Todd Ratchford/Matthew Bax) 9-2

$103,000 Grade 2 Matron Stakes 3-Year-Old Filly Pace (Race 8)

1-Two Twenty Swift (Jason Bartlett/Deborah Daguet) 10-1

2-Loua Dipa (Ronnie Wrenn Jr./Ron Burke) 5-2

3-Say Goodnight (Tim Tetrick/Nicholas DeVita) 8-1

4-Liberty Style (Art Stafford Jr./Andrew Stafford) 12-1

5-Darlin's Angel (Lauren Tritton/Juan Cano) 7-2

6-Be Perfect BG (Louis-Philippe Roy/Tony Beaton) 9-2

7-Existential (Dexter Dunn/Scott DiDomenico) 12-1

8-She's A Bulldog (Yannick Gingras/Ron Burke) 6-1

$124,200 Grade 2 Matron Stakes 3-Year-Old Male Trot (Race 10)

1-Highball Hanover (Brandon Givens/Wayne Givens) 12-1

2-Captain Jordan (Tim Tetrick/Scott DiDomenico) 8-1

3-Kingmen (Jason Bartlett/Petter Engblom) 12-1

4-Jim Beam (Yannick Gingras/Scott DiDomenico) 6-1

5-Diabolic Hill (Todd McCarthy/Annie Stoebe) 5-2

6-AI (Dexter Dunn/Marcus Melander) 7-2

7-Minoan (Andy McCarthy/Noel Daley) 9-2

8-Yankee Boost (Louis-Philippe Roy/Tom Shay) 10-1

$124,800 Grade 2 Hap Hansen Matron Stakes 3-Year-Old Male Pace (Race 12)

1-Watch Em Win (Tim Tetrick/Ron Burke) 12-1

2-Al Papi (Yannick Gingras/Ron Burke) 5-2

3-Toast Of The Town (Louis-Philippe Roy/Noel Daley) 12-1

4-Melillo (Ronnie Wrenn Jr./Ron Burke) 7-2

5-Odds On Mr Mamba (Dexter Dunn/Melanie Wrenn) 6-1

6-Callmebigpapi (Todd McCarthy/Ron Burke) 10-1

7-Gentleman's Club (Andy McCarthy/Aaron Lambert) 9-2

8-Fragment (Jason Bartlett/Petter Engblom) 8-1

First post for the Thursday card at Bally's Dover, which also includes three $20,000 second-round splits of the Delaware Standardbred Breeders’ Fund series for 2-year-old male pacers and a $27,500 Blue Hen Open Handicap Pace, is 4:30 p.m. (EST).