The first leg of The Dandy Pacing Series for three to five-year-old fillies and mares kicked off on Saturday night at Tioga Downs with Freedom Crossing and Vla Faire turning in winning performances
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Mike Micallef wasted no time moving Freedom Crossing to the front and paced through fractions of :28, :56.4, and 1:24.2 before easing away from her eight rivals in a new lifetime best of 1:52.2.
Kevin Johnson trains the four-year-old daughter of Artiscape0Bunker To Bunker for the Bay Pond Racing Stable of Paoli, Pennsylvania. It was the second win in seven seasonal starts for Freedom Crossing, who with the win increased her seasonal earnings to more than $11,000.
Glacier Girl (Corey Braden) paced home late to get second, while Odds On Design (Greg Merton) used a two-hole trip to secure third.
In the second division of The Dandy, Vla Faire was four-wide down the stretch and reached in the final strides on the wire with Ed Hensley to win in a new lifetime best of 1:54.2.
It was the second win of the year in five starts for the four-year-old daughter of Village Jove-Trade Fair for Oakhurst Farms of Lancaster, New York and trainer Richard Tomaszewski.
Leave Em Gasping (Sam Schillaci) finished second and favourite Touch The Clouds (Jim Marohn Jr.) was third.
Tioga Downs continues live racing on Sunday, June 19 at 1:30 p.m. and will feature the Miss Versatility Trotting Series for open trotting mares in Race 6.
(With files from Tioga Downs)