O'Brien Award finalist and pacing dynamo Divine Art returned to the track at Cal-Expo over a "slow" going to Thursday night (Jan. 13) and asserted her strength in a $5,400 fillies and mares pacing event.
Trainer-driver Gerald Longo floated forward with the four-year-old Outrageous Art mare and cleared I Will Do It for the lead past a :29.4 first quarter. Longo then slowed proceedings to a 1:02 half, which forced Biggiessecondshot to blitz uncovered. The field stacked behind Divine Art to three-quarters in 1:32, but then Divine Art revved for home. She drifted from the pylons but, by the eighth pole, easily peeled clear from her competition to stop the clock in 2:01.4 over I Will Do It with Biggiesecondshot finishing third.
Gerald Longo now holds ownership on Divine Art, who collected her 14th straight victory and added a 17th tally to her 24 starts. The O'Brien Award finalist, nominated alongside Nick Gallucci trainee Silver Label, has now earned $316,987. She paid $2.20 to win.