Certified Ideal extended her winning streak to three in Monday’s $18,000 Filly & Mare Not Listed Preferred/Preferred Handicap Pace at The Meadows, but she needed an alert sidestep to avoid the breaking leader to keep her in the race.
Hammered down to 2-5, Certified Ideal was stalking Foxy Lady from the pocket when Foxy Lady broke stride at the top of the lane. Tony Hall neatly guided Certified Ideal inside, where she brushed home in :28.2 and scored in 1:52.3. Do Me Honor rallied from last for second, a neck back, while Shucked, a 55-1 bomb, finished third.
Randy Bendis trains Certified Ideal, a four-year-old daughter of Western Ideal-Arebas Last who now boasts career earnings of $196,392, and owns with Mike Novosel, Jr., Tom Pollack and James Walton. It was one of three wins for Hall on the 14-race card.
Elsewhere on the program, Il Sogno Dream, who banked $112,899 last year at two, got his sophomore campaign off to a solid start with a front-end victory in a conditioned trot. The son of Cantab Hall-Le Reve rolled home in 1:55.1, a career best, for Aaron Merriman.
Chris Beaver trains Il Sogno Dream for Bill Manes, Dan Manes, Leonard Christopher and Randy Christopher.
(The Meadows)