Elegant Woman A showed her class in Buffalo Raceway's $20,417 Fillies and Mares Open Pace on Wednesday, June 17 as she rolled to a half-length victory over Utopia Blue Chip in 1:56.4.
Elegant Woman A had earned a cheque in five of her last six starts without finding the winner's circle and tried a different tactic to end her winless streak on Wednesday. Driver Drew Monti, who had her cutting the mile in her most recent win, reverted back to the old strategy and produced another victory.
Starting from the six post, Elegant Woman A proceeded directly to the lead off the gate and faced no resistance. Cutting the fractions of :29.3, :58.3 and 1:27.3, Elegant Woman A found the going smooth until the top of the stretch as Utopia Blue Chip (Dale Spence) made a three-wide move to move into contention. But Elegant Woman A held back that rival's late rally for the victory while Lady Blue Jay (David McNeight III) took the show position.
Elegant Woman A tallied her second win of the year in 11 outings for owners Vogel and Wags Nags LLC, Jack and Maria Rice and Monti. Maria Rice trains the six-year-old daughter of Bettors Delight-Versace Woman, who is now 12-for-41 lifetime with $126,432 in earnings. She returned $15.92 at the windows.
Kevin Cummings and McNeight III each chalked up three driving victories on the 13-race program while Brett MacDonald and Monti had doubles. Taylor Fritz had a pair of training wins.
Racing will continue at Buffalo on Friday at 2:30 p.m. with 12 races scheduled.
(Buffalo Raceway)