Despite behind dismissed by the betting public,Southwind Trini and Jim Meittinis came out on top in Saturday night’s first race at Tioga Downs, the $16,500 Fillies & Mares Open Handicap Pace
Oceans Motion (Chuck Connor Jr.) was made the overwhelming favourite and was assigned post position number six in a field of six. Connor quickly put Oceans Motion on the front through fractions of :26.4 and :55.4. As the field headed towards the next marker, Meittinis moved Southwind Trini to the outside and made a hard first over bid on the leader past the 1:23.2 third quarter pole. Around the final turn, Meittinis was able to get Southwind Trini to the front and held off a late charge by For All We Know (Keith Kamann) to win in 1:52.1.
The victory was the sixth in 29 seasonal starts for the four-year-old daughter of Rocknroll Hanover and Tattoo Hanover, who is trained by Rob Harmon for Karma Racing Inc.
(With files from Tioga Downs)