Chancey Lady shattered a track record with her winning performance in the featured Open Pace for fillies and mares on Wednesday night at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs
. The race carried the night’s top purse of $60,000.
Leaving from post position No. 7 in a field of eight as the 2-1 second betting choice, Chancey Lady settled fourth early on as a speed duel developed between long shots Flirtiscape and Rock N Soul.
Sensing a possible log jam up front, driver Tim Tetrick took a chance and sent Chancey Lady three-wide around the clubhouse turn to take a slight lead at the half-mile marker.
Chancey Lady, a six-year-old mare trained by Mark Kesmodel, was out wide all through the backstretch before finally clearing at the three-quarter pole. From there, the former O'Brien Award winner powered home to win by three lengths over Higher And Higher while Shanghai Lil finished third. The winning time of 1:49.2 shattered the Pocono mark for pacing mares ages five and up of 1:50, which was set back in 2008 by Sherry. It is also the fastest mile ever paced by any female horse at Pocono.
Chancey Lady, sired by Camluck and owned by Baron Racing Stable of Horsham, Pennsylvania, won for the third time in 14 starts this year. The accomplished mare picked up her 30th career victory while her lifetime earnings now stand at $1,658,590.
(With files from Pocono Downs)