Delivering on her 1-5 pari-mutuel promise, Buck I St Pat and driver Tim Tetrick captured the $111,000 final of the Ms. Versatility Series on Thursday as part of the Little Brown Jug program at the Delaware County Fairgrounds
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With Autumn Escapade (David Miller) firing from the two hole to make the lead, Tetrick settled Buck I St Pat into third before pulling on the backstretch and clearing to the lead just past the :28.4 first quarter. John Campbell pulled Classic Lane from fourth to attach first over apply pressure on the leaders through the :57.4 half-mile station.
Classic Lane continued to grind and make ground on the pacesetter, advancing to second through the 1:26.4 three-quarters before Tetrick let his mare loose and opened up some daylight on the field. Buck I St Pat hit the wire in a national season's best 1:55.2 with Classic Lane grinding out a hard-earned place cheque over Autumn Escapade.
"She's an amazing filly and it's pleasure to have her in the barn, said assistant trainer Mickey Burke Jr. after the victory. "That suspensory injury was pretty severe, but the medical advice we got was spot on and she responded to everything we did.
"She's pretty solid and on pretty much the same schedule as everyone else in the barn, she doesn't require anything different but we're always thinking about that suspensory injury. I think she's off to Lexington [for the Allerage Farm] next"
Trained by Ron Burke, the six-year-old daughter of Jailhouse Jesse - Name It Something notched her 39th lifetime win - and third in a row - for Howard Taylor and Edwin Gold of Pennsylvania, Abraham Basen of Las Vegas, NV and breeder Ron Fuller of Newark, Ohio.