Chancey Lady cleared the lead at the top of the stretch and held off the late charge of Ramona DiSomma to win the $80,000 Cape & Cutter Final Friday night at Meadowlands Racetrack
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Flirtiscape (Dave Miller) led the field through blistering early fractions of :26.1 and :55.2 before driver John Campbell and Chancey Lady rushed up to challenge on her outside. Chancey Lady edged clear as they reached the three-quarter marker in 1:24 and dug in under urging for a half-length victory in 1:51.1 over Ramona DiSomma (George Brennan).
Ginger And Fred (Tim Tetrick) was locked in the whole way and found room late to finish 3-1/4 lengths behind them in third. The race for open mares had just six starters after 6-5 morning line favourite Native Bride was scratched due to injury. Completing the order of finish were Native Hotspur (Ron Pierce) in fourth, BCs Jesse (Yannick Gingras) fifth and Flirtiscape sixth.
"[Native Bride's scratch] changed the complexion of the whole race," said winning driver, John Campbell. "You kind of have an idea of how it is going to go, but with her out, it kind of opened things up for everybody. So, I wasn't really sure just how the race would break out of the gate. They were going hard [leaving out of the starting gate] and that made my mind up easier not to go out of there. I knew [Ramona DiSomma] was getting a good trip and she's a very good mare off cover. It took everything we had just to hold her off.
"[Chancey Lady]'s an eager little girl," Campbell added. "She has a lot of back-class to her and she tries very hard. She's certainly an overachiever if you look at her size-wise. She's extremely tough and she's been around here a long time."
Chancey Lady, who races for the estate of Niele Jiwan, surpassed $1.3 million in career earnings with the victory and paid $4.20. The five-year-old daughter of Camluck-Art Of Design gave trainer Mark Kesmodel his second series crown this season. Kesmodel won the $117,000 Presidential Final on January 23 with Blatantly Good.
Later on the card, Campbell (three winners on the program) also clicked with 13-1 Sunland Dakota in the $32,000 Invitational Trot for owner Frank Bellino of Bronxville, New York. The five-year-old Bruce Saunders pupil settled into the pocket early on, but was shuffled back to fourth as favourite Likeabatoutahell (Brian Sears) brushed to command and In Focus (Daniel Dube) advanced first up. In the stretch, Campbell angled Sunland Dakota out into the three-path and he unleashed a :27.3 final frame to nose out In Focus in 1:54.1.
Green Day (George Brennan) finished a half-length behind in third over Likeabatoutahell.
Sunland Dakota returned $28.00 to win. The gelded son of Corleone-CC Wild Falls, now two-for-six this season, has won 23 of his 53 starts lifetime and is closing in on $300,000 in earnings.
To view Friday's results, click here.
(With files from Meadowlands Racetrack)