Treasured Tee was able to overcome the outside seven post and score a 1-1/4-length victory over favoured Chapter Twelve in Buffalo Raceway's featured $15,972 conditioned trot on Friday, April 10.

With Chapter Twelve (Kevin Cummings) and Vondell Kemp (Ray Fisher Jr.) cruising to the top two spots in the early going, Treasured Tee and Drew Monti managed to secure a spot behind the pacesetters, settling into third place. With fractions of :29.1 and 1:00 in the books over the fast track, Treasured Tee was first on the rim heading to the 1:29.3 three-quarter marker and stuck a neck in front of Chapter Twelve. Down the stretch, Treasured Tee continued to distance himself from the field and strolled off to the easy score in 1:59. Chapter Twelve held on for second-place honors while Vondell Kemp was third.

Owned by Drew Monti and trained by Darrin Monti, 11-year-old Treasured Tee (Yankee Glide-Platinum T) picked up his first victory in five appearances this season. The 45-time career winner sits just shy of $600,000 in lifetime earnings.

He paid $6.78 to win as the 2-1 second choice.

It was only fitting that the opening round of the April Reins Claiming Series was contested in the rain. The seven divisions went for $17,361 apiece with a $10,417 claiming price. A total of 10 horses changed barns during the initial round of action.

The longest shot amongst the seven winners in the opening round was actually the fastest as the Shawn McDonough-trained Mister Marvalous posted a surprising $23.62 victory in 1:55.2 for David McNeight III, one of three for him in the series.

A trio of horses were claimed after scoring wins as Sharky Bear ($3.32), Alexas Sunshine ($3.98) and Governor JK ($5.35) all found new homes. Other winners included April Hill High ($7.80), Out On Bail ($10.88) and My Little Friend ($16.82).

The April Reins Claiming Series will resume next Friday with the claiming tags increasing.

McNeight III and Monti each collected four victories on the 13-race program with Brett MacDonald getting two. Samuel Smith collected four training victories and Rachelle Mungillo had a double.

Racing will resume on Saturday afternoon at 2:30 p.m. with a 12-race program. The $15,500 USD Open Trot and Open Pace highlight the card and will go off as the seven and ninth races, respectively.

(With files from Buffalo Raceway)