Southwind Tempo [$2.20, $2.10, $2.10] held off her stable mate Tug River Princess at the wire to win the $246,000 Lady Liberty for older pacing mares Friday night at the Meadowlands Racetrack
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Southwind Tempo, driven by Tim Tetrick, assumed command from Tug River Princess and John Campbell before the half and rebuffed a bid by A And Gs Confusion and Dave Miller on the far turn. She edged away from her stable mate at the head of the lane and dug in for a length victory in 1:50.1. Hana Hanover [$3.20] and George Brenna stepped home in a swift :26.1 seconds to finish third.
"She's really on her game right now," Tetrick said. "She's won a lot of races on the front, but she's probably better off the pace. She's a tough mare and can do whatever you have to do. You're always concerned until you cross the finish line, but my mare felt really good [in the stretch]. Her earplugs were still in. If you can get to three-quarters like that [in 1:23.3], she's always got a big quarter brush on the end of it. I wasn't too worried.
"I wanted to get a little separation because I had John [Campbell and Tug River Princess] in behind me," Tetrick added. "My mare got us all the way to the wire and she was strong doing it."
The Lady Liberty marked Southwind Tempo's fifth win, and third stakes trophy, in seven starts this season. She captured the $250,000 Betsy Ross Final in 1:48.3 on April 26 at Harrah's Chester, along with the $314,802 Classic Series Final on June 13 at Mohawk. The five-year-old Bettors Delight mare has now won 31 of 45 starts and $1.7 million. Ross Croghan trains Southwind Tempo for Jerry Silva of Long Beach, New York and Eric Cherry's Let It Ride Stables of Delray Beach, Florida.
With his win in this week's edition of the $31,500 Invitational Trot, Lucky Jim [$3.80, $2.80, $2.10] remains perfect in his four-year-old campaign, which consists of 13 starts. The S Js Photo - Hawaiian Sierra gelding prevailed in 1:52.2 with Andy Miller in the bike for trainer Julie Miller and owners David and John Prushnok of Punxsutawney and William Gregg of Indiana, Pennsylvania.
Likeabatoutahell and Brian Sears did all the work on the front end before Lucky Jim made the winning decision to advance first-up from third at the third-quarter. The fan favourite then sprinted home in :27.2 for the three and a quarter length score.
Four Starz Speed [$5.80, $2.80] and Yannick Gingras came on for second forcing Likeabatoutahell [$2.20] to settle for third.
The win pushed his yearly earnings over the $400,000 mark. The 15-time winner has banked a grand total of $519,778 in his career.
To view Saturday's results, click here.
(With files from NJSEA)