Scandalicious held off rivals on both sides down the stretch as she took a new lifetime mark in the $24,000 Fillies & Mares Open Handicap Pace on Tuesday (March 8) at Dover Downs.
Driven by Tim Tetrick, Scandalicious retook the lead after a :26.2 first quarter in which back-to-back Open winner Fashion Showdown (Allan Davis) had crossed to command from the outside post. After looping Fashion Showdown in front of the grandstand, she clocked subsequent panels of :55.3 and 1:23.1 before the stretch showdown. Springforth (George Dennis), who was last through the first half, had picked up cover and sprinted home on the outside in :26.4 only to come up a neck short at the wire. Fashion Showdown closed along the pylons and settled for third. Scandalicious held on to win by a head in 1:50.3, shaving one-fifth of a second off her former fastest record.
Scott Di Domenico trains Scandalicious, who has hit the board in seven of her eight Open outings this year. Her other 2016 victory -- also a narrow (neck) decision -- occurred two starts ago on Feb. 9 and was followed by a runner-up effort on Feb. 23 -- both in sloppy track conditions. She was the 4-5 favourite this time out and paid $3.80 to win.
Owned by the New York-based Jfe Enterprise LLC, the five-year-old American Ideal mare is a career winner of 16 races and she is now just shy of the $300,000 earnings mark.