Sandy Win has been her fans’ best friend of late, and once again she came through for her faithful, winning a third straight start by taking the Friday night feature at the Meadowlands, a high-end conditioned pace for fillies and mares.
The eight-year-old daughter of Sand Shooter-Google completed her natural hat trick – all against the same non-winners of $15,000 stock – by defeating 3-5 favourite Major Occasion A by a neck. In her 146th career start, the Chuck Connor Jr. trainee established a new lifetime best of 1:50.2, and kept her winning streak going by scoring again as the non-favourite.
Corey Callahan asked for early speed from Sandy Win, and that’s just what he got, as the pair hit the quarter in :26.4. Major Occasion A was well back at this point before picking up cover and racing fourth-over past the half.
Sandy Win, after rating the second fraction back to :29.1, had to step on the gas to the tune of a :27.3 third quarter to rebuff the challenge of the pesky first-over Believe In Me while Major Occasion A was mounting a challenge three-wide at three-quarters with still quite a bit to do.
Through the stretch, Sandy Win continued to find more as Major Occasion A was airborne late, and despite a :25.3 final quarter by Major Occasion A, Sandy Win’s :26.4 kicker was enough to register a safe win. Believe In Me held third.
Owned by Robert Main, Sandy Win returned $8.20 to her grateful backers, who received $20.60 and $8.60 mutuels in her prior two wins. Lifetime, she has won 24 times and earned $211,693.
CAN-AM PICK-4 RETURNS SATURDAY: The 20-cent Can-Am Pick-4, which gives the challenge to handicappers of selecting the winners of two races at the Meadowlands and Woodbine Mohawk Park returns on Saturday night. The sequence will begin with Mohawk’s 10th race.
A LITTLE MORE: Well, actually, it’s a lot more if you had the 50-cent Pick-5. The sequence saw winner’s odds of 9-1, 1-1, 21-1, 9-5 and 13-1, and one sharp handicapper collected the huge payout of $32,166. … Alek Chartrand and Drew Monti both recorded their first Big M driving wins of the year. Chartrand is also the trainer of Trixie Dust, who was sent to the gate as the 9-5 post-time choice. … The late 20-cent Jackpot Super High-Five failed to result in a single-ticket winner, upping the carryover for Saturday's 14th race to $97,077. ... All-source wagering totaled $2,773,142. … Racing resumes Saturday at 7:15 p.m.
(Meadowlands Racetrack)