Studio City needed every step of the mile to track down the front-running Lutetium in the $10,500 Open Trot at Buffalo Raceway on Friday night (Feb. 7).
Lutetium (Kevin Cummings) set the fractions with marks of :29.1, 1:00 and 1:31 and tried desperately to make every step a winning one. He was close but no cigar. Studio City and Buffalo Raceway's leading driver Billy Dobson had other ideas.
Starting a first over trip down the backstretch the final time, Studio City ($7.10) began a slow, but methodical grind in chasing down Lutetium. Then in the shadow of the wire, he managed to poke a head in front for the win in 2:01.2 over the 'good' track. Cedarridgetag (Peter Wrenn) took the show position.
The victory was the first in four starts for Studio City this season. He has now earned $9,135 in 2014 and $133,868 lifetime. The five-year-old gelding is owned by Scott Woogen and Lisa Denison and is trained by Lisa Lederhouse.
Racing will resume on Saturday night with a 12-race card scheduled to start at 6:40 p.m.
(Buffalo Raceway)