While the first two thirds of the card had some big paydays, second choice Face The Shadows closed strongly to win the featured $18,493 optional-claiming pace for fillies and mares on a sunny opening day at Buffalo Raceway on Wednesday, March 4.

Wildcat Delight (Brett MacDonald) stomped out fractions of :29, 1:00 and 1:29.4 over the track labelled good. But Face The Shadows (Drew Monti) circled three-wide off cover coming into the stretch and had more than enough momentum to swoop past Wildcat Delight and prevail by 1-1/4 lengths in 1:58.2. Major Megan (Leon Bailey) took the show cheque.

Co-owned by El Dorado Stables and Michael Torcello, Face The Shadows, a daughter of Shadow Play-Face To Face, is trained by Samuel Smith. The victory was the first in five tries this season for Face The Shadows, and the six-year-old is now 12-for-92 lifetime with $194,231 in earnings. She paid $7.44 to win.

In the sub-featured $14,384 conditioned pace for fillies and mares, Bee Okay A (David McNeight III) was more than okay as she toppled Just One Bite (MacDonald) by a length in 1:59 with Fox Valley Tatum (Jim McNeight Jr.) third. After grabbing the lead in the early going, Bee Okay A ($8.78) relinquished the advantage briefly to Just One Bite before the quarter in :29 but wanted no part of a pocket journey and was able to drive back to the lead. Cruising through middle splits of :59.1 and 1:29, Bee Okay A was on autopilot down the long stretch and easily turned back the threats of Just One Bite and Fox Valley Tatum. 

The winning eight-year-old daughter of A Rocknroll Dance-Be Nice Huther scored in her seasonal debut and improved to 19-for-107 lifetime with earnings of $172,946. She is trained by Maria Rice, who shares ownership with Jack Rice.

Bbc Sportsboy ($68.30) led the parade of big prices on the card, while other sizable numbers were produced by Miss Rockadali ($32.52), Trente Deo ($32.36), Classic Sunny ($29.22), Pointomygrandson ($14.52) and Governor Jk ($12.92). The bombs in the early events helped create a $1,075 carryover in the Pick 5 which begins in the second race on Saturday.

"There was some exciting racing out there," Buffalo Raceway general manager Jon Cramer said of opening day. "We hope to see them back on Saturday afternoon for the Pick 5 carryover, magnetic schedule giveaway and the 'Lucky Exacta' contest."

Kevin Cummings topped the drivers with four trips to the winner's circle on the 12-race card, while Monti and David McNeight III each got a pair. Rachelle Mungillo and David Russo each had two training victories.

Racing will resume at Buffalo on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. with a 13-race program scheduled.

(With files from Buffalo Raceway)