Whilemena Rita A was a decisive first-over winner in the $25,000 Fillies and Mares Winners Over/Open Handicap Pace on Sunday, Sept. 13 at Saratoga Casino Hotel. 

The Melissa Beckwith trainee had one victory in the Fillies and Mares Open to her credit when she came into Sunday’s tilt as the morning-line favourite. Whilemena Rita A wound up as the odds-on choice in the feature for distaffs and proved more than up to the task. 

The six year old mare, who is in the midst of her first season of racing in the U.S. since being imported from Australia, came first-over after early panels of :28 and :58.1. The resistance of longshot leader Dressed To Kill (Leon Bailey) was futile as Whilemena Rita A and reinsman Brett Beckwith imposed their will, pacing to three-quarters in 1:25.4 before opening up an insurmountable lead and scoring by 1-3/4 lengths in 1:54.3. Longshot Lady Saturn (Brett Crawford) closed quickly to finish second at odds of 10-1 while Bobby Mcgee (Billy Dobson) earned the show spot in her Open debut.

For Whilemena Rita A, the win was her seventh of the year in 18 outings. The talented Heston Blue Chip-Mustang Sassy mare is owned in partnership by FAC Racing LLC and Melissa Beckwith. She paid $3.48 to win.

Trainer Jordan Derue harnessed three winners on the 13-race program. He won with Latenitedecisions ($5.76), Shes Epic ($2.54) and Sea Blaze ($14.08). The conditioner has 32 wins this year from 234 starts.

Live racing continues on Monday at Saratoga with a matinee that begins at noon.

(With files from Saratoga Raceway)