Truth And Liberty and driver Mike Simons were victorious in Tioga Downs' featured $12,000 Fillies & Mares Open Pace on Friday (May 24).
Velocity McSweets (Mike Merton) led to a first quarter of :27.1. HP Sissy (Wally Hennessey) took over as they went by the stands for the first time before hitting the half in :56.2.
Truth And Liberty ($5.10), who is owned by Fairy Horsemother Stables and trained by Simons, battled HP Sissy all the way around the final turn.
Truth And Liberty had a short lead as they hit three-quarters in 1:23.4. HP Sissy would battle back to re-claim the lead at the top of the stretch, but Truth And Liberty finally shook loose in mid-stretch and held off a late charge by second-place finisher Velocity McSweets to win in a seasonal-best of 1:51.4. Northern Dali (Jim Meittinis) was third-best.
Truth And Liberty is a seven-year-old mare by Total Truth. The win was her third this season and her 37th career victory.
Simons also trains and drove Oneida Blue Chip ($5.80) to a victory on the night.
Driver Jim Taggart Jr. and trainer Gary Messenger combined for two wins during the card with Filly Forty ($6.40) and Classic Can Dream ($8.40).
Live racing resumes at Tioga Downs on Saturday (May 25) with a 10-race card starting at 6:15 p.m.
(With files from Tioga Downs)