Always Giggling sat chilly near the back of the pack as Imajean Rocks, seeking her fifth consecutive victory at Hollywood Dayton Raceway, set torrid fractions in the weekly Friday night feature -- the $17,500 Mares Open Pace.
The strategy paid big dividends as the :27, :54.4 and 1:22.4 fractions resulted in a relatively slow :29.2 final panel in which Always Giggling was able to rally from seventh to grab a narrow victory in the last quarter with John DeLong aboard.
The final clocking of 1:52.2 resulted in the five-year-old daughter of Always A Virgin garnering her fifth seasonal win, the 16th of her stellar career, which has now produced $434,527 in purse earnings. She is owned by Jeffrey Fought and trained by Peter Redder.
Always Giggling, dispatched at 10-1 odds, paid $23.40. Coupled with morning line favourite Imajean Rocks (Brett Miller), the perfecta returned $98.80. Eliza Dushku N (Mike Oosting) got the show dough, while Newsday (Trevor Smith), Knockout Queen (Jeremy Smith) and Elysium Seelster (Tyler Smith) also earned cheques in the 10-horse field.
The curtain comes down on Hollywood Dayton Raceway's sixth season on Saturday night (Dec. 28) when a strong 14-race card commences at 6:15 p.m.
(With files from Hollywood Dayton)