Defending Breeders Crown champion and heavy favourite Warrawee Ubeaut continued her divisional dominance in the three-year-old filly pace elimination on Saturday at Woodbine Mohawk Park.
The Ron Burke trainee notched her seventh straight victory, winning the lone 'Crown' elimination for sophomore filly pacers in 1:50.3 with Yannick Gingras in tow.
Warrawee Ubeaut, now 11-for-16 this year, is owned by Burke Racing Stable LLC, Phillip Collura, Jandt Silva Purnel & Libb, and Weaver Bruscemi LLC.
The Sweet Lou-Great Memories filly was sent postward at odds of 1-5 following recent wins in the Jugette and Glen Garnsey Memorial (1:48.3).
Kentucky Sires Stakes champion Beautyonthebeach (Doug McNair) fired from the outside post 10 and crossed to command with O'Brien Award-winning filly Tall Drink Hanover (Andrew McCarthy) on the move to take over at the :26.4 quarter pole. Warrawee Ubeaut was hot on her heels though and cleared on the way to the half in :55.3. She then sauntered past three-quarters in 1:24.3 and widened her lead in the stretch.
"She's great, there are no other words to describe her," said Gingras. "She's perfect to drive. When I called on her at the top of the stretch, she was coming out of her skin pacing so strong."
Tall Drink Hanover chased in vain, finishing two lengths behind in second, with Philly Hanover (Dexter Dunn), Beautyonethebeach, Ideation Hanover (James MacDonald), Queen Of The Pride (Brian Sears), Bestseller Hanover (Scott Zeron) and Stonebridge Soul (Tim Tetrick) following in third through eighth to make the final.
The top eight finishers will advance to the final along with Sunny Dee and Treacherous Reign, whose connections accepted byes.
"Ronnie talked me into [racing her in the elim] and no doubt that was the right call," said Gingras on opting to race in the elimination rather than accept a bye. "That way you take [posts] eight, nine, 10 out of the equation as long as you win but we were both confident that she would."
The elimination winners will draw from posts one through five in their respective divisions.
The 2019 Breeders Crown, presented by Libfeld-Katz Breeding Partnership, will be contested next weekend at Woodbine Mohawk Park with the championships for three-year-olds and up set for Saturday, Oct. 26.
"This week she'll have a pretty easy week," said Burke on preparing for the final. "She'll just jog a couple of days and train one day. The training now is just to maintain. Last week we trained her to be ready for this week and next week. Now we're just going to maintain, try to keep her fresh. She doesn't need a lot of work, she's fit and ready right now. We just have to make sure she's fresh and happy."
Here is a look at the field in post position order for the final:
$550,000 Three-Year-Old Filly Pace
1. Beautyonthebeach
2. Sunny Dee
3. Treacherous Reign
4. Tall Drink Hanover
5. Warrawee Ubeaut
6. Ideation Hanover
7. Philly Hanover
8. Stonebridge Soul
9. Queen Of The Pride
10. Bestseller Hanover