Harness racing's fastest freshman pacer Warrawee Ubeaut cemented her status as the 'it-girl' in the two-year-old pacing filly ranks with a gutsy performance in her division's $600,000 Breeders Crown Final.
A brisk flow emerged early in this race with a number of early lead changes. Zero Tolerance (David Miller) was out and driving to clear through a :26.2 openign quarter but that lead was short-lived as St Somewhere (Matt Kakaley) and Warrawee Ubeaut (Yannick Gingras) were advancing as the field passed in front of the grandstand. St Somewhere cleared just before the :54.2 half, with Warrawee Ubeaut driving on to clear heading into the backstretch.
As the field approached the five-eighths mark, Prescient Beauty (Doug McNair) was left first up after Warrawee Ubeaut cleared. Prescient Beauty kept advancing through a sharp 1:22.4 third station and as the field turned for home Warrawee Ubeaut looked vulnerable. A spirited stretch drive ensued, with Prescient Beauty not packing it in and Zero Tolerance left-lining to challenge up the passing lane. But Warrawee Ubeaut stayed dead game and held off her rivals for a hard-fought 1:52.3 victory over the off track.
Zero Tolerance nosed out Prescient Beauty for place honours.
"She's a gutsy filly, honestly the only thing that got her beat last week was a bad drive," driver Gingras said in the winner's circle after the win. "I drove her as bad as a guy could drive a horse. I told the girl that takes care of her -- she does a great job -- I told her, don't worry about it. If you draw a good post I'll get the job done in the final. I only told her, I'm not as ballsy as David Miller and tell the whole world but I was very confident in the filly."
Trained by Ron Burke, Warrawee Ubeaut now sports a 7-1-1 summary from 11 seasonal starts for Burke Racing Stable LLC, Phillip Collura, J&T Silva Purnel & Libby, and Weaver Bruscemi LLC. The filly was bred in Ontario by Warrawee Farm of Rockwood. The win lifted her bankroll to $602,393.
Burke picked up his 14th Breeders Crown, taking sole possession of third in the series' trainer standings.
The Two-Year-Old Filly Pace was one of 12 lucrative finals on a star-studded 2018 Breeders Crown night at Pocono featuring most of harness racing's top participants. Read about the rest of the stakes action in the 2018 Breeders Crown News Centre.