Sophomore trotting fillies took centre stage at Maywood Park on Thursday, October 18 as a field of seven diagonally-gaited distaffers battled in the $12,700 Speed N The Tunnel Stakes.
A 'sloppy' track and plunging temperatures certainly did not seem to bother Steve Searle and Thomas Wisniewski’s Ants Iner Pants as she rallied from sixth at the half-mile mark to score by a nose in 2:00.1for driver Ryan Anderson.
Kept near the back of the pack as Rubys An Pearls (driven by Rick Schrock) and a parked-out Maevey Gravy (Marcus Miller) battled tooth and nail through splits of :29.2, :59 and 1:30.1, Anderson finally moved the daughter of Bands Gold Chip--Patient Dream three wide as favoured Maevey Gravy began to stall at the three-quarter-station.
Circling up on the far outside as the fillies moved around the final turn, Ants Iner Pants was still fourth as the field hit the top of the stretch. Kicking into high gear, the Searle trainee uncorked a :29.3 final quarter despite being out wide, eventually nailing Lady Ann Reed winner B Fly McQueen (Robert Smolin) in the final strides for a thrilling victory. Rubys And Pearls faded badly but still managed to hang on for third, more than nine lengths behind the top pair.
Sent off at odds of 4-1 despite coming off a victory in the Betzotic Stakes at Balmoral in her last outing, Ants Iner Pants returned $10.80, $7.20 and $4.20 while running her record to 4-1-3 in 20 starts this season.
(Maywood)