Elegant Woman A showed power as well as grace as she fended a persistent Utopia Blue Chip to capture Buffalo Raceway's $21,528 Fillies and Mares Open Handicap Pace on Wednesday, April 15.
Tres Chic Bluechip (Kyle Cummings) and Elegant Woman A (Drew Monti) pushed ahead in the first turn, with Tres Chic Bluechip initially rolling past her rival to the lead before Elegant Woman A left the pocket and scurried to the front before the quarter in :28.2.
With the first half of :58 in the books, Elegant Woman A was ready for the assault from the first-over favourite Utopia Blue Chip (Dale Spence), who grinded away at the leader through three-quarters in 1:26.2. Elegant Woman A stayed strong down the stretch, holding off a final rush by Utopia Blue Chip by a neck to win in 1:55. Face The Shadows (Kevin Cummings) took third.
Elegant Woman A tallied her first win of the year in four starts for owners Monti, Vogel & Wags Nags LLC and Jack and Maria Rice. Maria Rice trains the six-year-old daughter of Bettors Delight-Versace Woman, who is 11-for-34 lifetime with $101,677 in earnings. She returned $8.48 to win.
In the sub-featured $15,972 conditioned pace for the ladies, Hurrikane Lori Ann ($5.42) made it three consecutive victories with a dialled-down 1-1/2-length gate-to-wire score over Dear Abbey in 1:57.2. Hurrikane Lori Ann took advantage of her inside starting position and set the fractions of :28.4, :59.2 and 1:28.1. Enjoying a 3-1/4 length advantage turning for home, Hurrikane Lori Ann (Drew Monti) cruised home safely as Dear Abbey (David McNeight III) closed from fourth for second. Already Sassy (Ron Beback Jr.) took third.
The win was the third win in nine appearances this year for the 10-year-old Hurrikane Lori Ann, a daughter of Lis Mara-Luxury Goods. Owned by George Dremonas and conditioned by Luis Ramirez, she has now collected $402,562 in lifetime earnings and won 35 times in 232 outings.
There were plenty of fireworks in the last race on the card as Dale Spence piloted 157-1 shot Trident Born to a last-to-first victory. The Dakota Jackson trainee produced a $317.10 victory which topped a $2 exactor (8-2) for $4,223.48, a single winning 10-cent superfecta (8-2-3-5) of $1,930.16 and a $2 daily double (5-8) of $1,486.18.
Monti finished the 11-race program with a driving triple with Kevin Cummings getting a double. Rachelle Mungillo had a pair of training victories.
There is a 12-race card set for Friday afternoon with a first post time of 2:30 p.m. The second leg of the April Reins Claiming Series continues with all six divisions having a $12,500 USD purse and $8,500 USD claiming tags.
(With files from Buffalo Raceway)