Colorful Sky copped her first Open Mares event in quite some time, upsetting Sandy Sue and heavily favoured Golden Paradise at odds of 7-1 on Friday night at Miami Valley Raceway.
Four of the seven top level mares gunned out of the gate with Elysium Seelster gaining command as they sorted things out around the first turn. Driver Sam Widger squeezed Colorful Sky into the two-hole with Knockout Queen (Brett Miller) and Sandy Sue falling in next in line. Following a :26.4 first quarter clocking, the tempo slowed to :55.4 at the half without much change.
Knockout Queen was the first to challenge and was lapped on Elysium Seelster at the 1:24.2 third station, but the demanding pace over the ‘good’ track took its toll on the front-steppers, who began to falter at the head of the stretch. That gave Colorful Sky an opportunity to squeeze back out of the pocket and lead the charge of distaffers moving quickly from the back of the pack.
When the wire was reached in 1:53.4, Colorful Sky had a diminishing lead over Sandy Sue and Golden Paradise. It was the 35th career tally for the eight-year-old winner and boosted her lifetime earnings over $300,000. She is owned by Wilfong Racing LLC and trained by Peter Redder, who has now reached the winner’s circle ten times in 2020.
Miami Valley will present another strong Saturday night program beginning at 6:05 p.m., and then take Sunday off in deference to the Super Bowl.
(Miami Valley Raceway)