Southwind Wasabi and driver Michel Lachance overcame the ten-hole to capture Sunday’s $228,500 Moni Maker at The Red Mile, and they had a lot of help from some speed crazy sulky sitters that laid down incredible fractions
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Sirenuse was hustled to the early lead from the pole position, and she had the field at the quarter pole in :26.2. That filly soon took a back seat to race favourite Broadway Schooner, who brushed to the top and rolled them to the mid-way point in :54.2. She was still the leader at the three-quarter pole in 1:22.4, but the backfield was closing in.
Lachance and Southwind Wasabi were mired in traffic for most of the mile, but they found plenty of racetrack to work with at the head of the lane. She vaulted off cover and tracked down Broadway Schooner in the closing strides. The Chuck Sylvester-trained three-year-old daughter of Windsong Legacy-Winkys Goal halted the teletimer in a career-best clocking of 1:52.4. Broadway Schooner finished second and Seaside was third.
Southwind Wasabi, who went 2-for-10 as a rookie, has assembled a 4-3-0 record in 11 starts this season for Sylvester and partners Neal Goldman, Margaret Key and Jerry Silva. The lion’s share of the purse helped her lifetime bankroll swell to $433,556.