Utopia Blue Chip collared pacesetter Face The Shadows down the stretch and registered a one-length victory in Buffalo Raceway's $21,233 Fillies and Mares Open Handicap Pace on Wednesday, May 13.

Face The Shadows (Kevin Cummings) grabbed the lead early and posted fractions of :29.3 and :58.3, opening a two-length advantage at the midway point with Utopia Blue Chip sitting fifth. Face The Shadows extended the margin to nearly three lengths by three-quarters in 1:27.1, but Utopia Blue Chip (Dale Spence) was just getting started three-wide and began to cut into the lead. Utopia Blue Chip steadily moved up down the stretch and rallied to get the win in 1:56.3 thanks to a :28.4 last panel. Elegant Woman A (Drew Monti) closed for third.

Leased and trained by Spence of Tyne Valley, P.E.I., Utopia Blue Chip is a six-year-old daughter of Sweet Lou-Reign On Me. She has won four times in 18 appearances on the campaign, including two of her last three Open starts at Buffalo. The Wedensday decision upped her lifetime bankroll to $331,246 and her record to 21-for-86. She paid $4.70 to win.

Cory Kreiser had a big day as he drove three horses from his barn to victory on the 13-race card. Kreiser, whose trainees are now 67-for-355 this year, won with Covid Cartel ($11.16) in gate-to-wire fashion, Maggie Time ($3.02) in another dominant front-end effort and Kandy Sweet ($9.80) from the pocket. The conditioner is coming off his second-best year in wins with 228 and his highest-earning season of $2.6 million.

Monti also had a driving three-bagger, and Michael Baumeister and Kevin Cummings each took a pair of sulky victories. Samuel Smith conditioned a pair of winners.

Racing will continue at Buffalo on Friday at 2:30 p.m. with another 13-race program scheduled.

(With files from Buffalo Raceway)