May Baby ($5.70) avenged her loss last time out in the Open Trot at Tioga Downs and returned to her winning ways on Saturday, June 29 for driver Braxten Boyd and trainer Brandy Wine.
In this week's $21,918 Open, May Baby and Boyd darted out to the front and led to the quarter in :27.3 before backing down the pace to the half in :58.1. Joxter (Dan Daley) then challenged first-up down the backstretch with May Baby maintaining a short lead to three-quarters in 1:26.2. As they made the turn for home, Joxter and May Baby continued to slug it out, but May Baby dug down deep in the stretch and prevailed by three-quarters of a length in 1:55 over the 'good' track. The Open winner in their last match-up on June 15, Duly Resolved (Tyler Miller), finished third.
A runner-up last time, May Baby now has four wins from five starts while facing Tioga's top trotters this year. A career winner of 31 races and nearly $790,000, the seven-year-old mare by Guccio has won seven of 15 starts overall this season for owner Cheyenne Yoder of Upland, Indiana.
(With files from Tioga Downs)