Mark Howard’s Square Deal ($2.80, Tony Morgan) was a 1:52.2 winner in the $30,822 Free-For-All Mares Handicap Pace on Tuesday, June 4 at Harrington Raceway. Another highlight on the card was when Need Ur Opinion ($2.10, Allan Davis) won her seventh straight start in 1:55.4 for trainer Tyler Davis and owner J&T Davis.
Square Deal left the gate alertly from her rail post position and set fractions of :27, :54.4 and 1:23 while Shield Maiden sat the pocket throughout. Though the margin narrowed near the wire, Square Deal held off Shield Maiden for her sixth win of the year from 13 starts. My Kiwi Lady N finished third.
Trained by Will Reynolds, Square Deal notched her 11th lifetime win and her first since entering the Reynolds barn two starts ago. The four-year-old Heston Blue Chip mare has been on the ticket in all but one start at the current meet.
Need Ur Opinion (pictured above), a $17,123 claimer, has been claimed in four straight starts and was claimed this time by owner Ron Davis. From 17 starts, the seven-year-old Warrawee Needy mare has 13 wins this year, tied for tops in North America.
Art Stafford Jr. drove three winners, including two for trainer Andrew Stafford and owner Tom Ireland. Cody Poliseno and Montrell Teague each had a pair of wins.
The first leg of the Delaware Standardbred Breeders Fund (DSBF) series for three-year-olds will headline the June 10-12 week of racing, featuring $20,000 USD preliminary events.
Live harness racing will continue on a Monday-through-Wednesday schedule (post time 4:30 p.m.) until June 26.
(With files from Harrington Raceway)