American Girl (Trace Tetrick) got up in the absolute final stride on Friday night (March 18) to nose out Native Dream (John DeLong) in the $20,000 Fillies and Mares Open Pace at Miami Valley Raceway.

The 1:52.3 win was the third of the season for the seven-year-old Arts Chip mare, but the first in Open company in two months.

American Girl, owned by Darla Gaskin and Stanley Rosenblatt, rushed to the lead in a :27.3 opening panel, then allowed the eventual runner-up to clear to the front well before the half, reached in :55.4. The order stayed constant through a 1:23.3 third quarter clocking, before Tetrick angled American Girl out at the head of the stretch and the pair waged a fierce stretch duel to the finish. Safe From Terror (Chris Page), the winner of the weekly distaff feature the last two weeks, rallied to grab the show dough from an assigned outside post position.

American Girl returned $10.60 for a $2 win ducat, while the exacta paid a healthy $45.20 and the $2 trifecta was worth $164.40.

A pair of second round splits of the Herb Coven Jr. Memorial Series were also contested with Crystal Falls (Tyler Smith) stamping her ticket to the $20,000 final with a 1:53.3 score over Jackies Rocket (Brady Galliers) and Gray Shadow (Kyle Ater), while Do U Mind advanced with a 1:54.1 tally over Swinging Cami (Kayne Kauffman) and Sectionline Friskie (Trace Tetrick).

Local horsemen will pay a silent tribute to Gary Maciejewski, longtime harness horseman and paddock security guard who collapsed and died suddenly on Friday morning at age 67 while preparing to come to work at Miami Valley Raceway.

(Miami Valley Raceway)