Ice Attraction was nowhere to be found in the early stages of Sunday’s $72,000 Allerage Farms Fillies & Mares Open Trot, but she was a major force in the closing strides for trainer/driver Ake Svanstedt.
Ice Attraction rallied from last to first en route to shaving one-fifth of a second off Ariana G’s 1:50.2 world record for four-year-trotting mares on a one-mile oval.
Royal Witch shot to the top and carved out the opening quarter in :27 before race favourite Broadway Donna brushed to the top in the backstretch. She rolled the field to the half in :55 before coming under pressure from the first-over Caprice Hill around the final turn. Those two locked up in a big league tussle on the way to the three-quarter pole in 1:23, but Broadway Donna succumbed to the pressure by making a break in deep stretch.
Caprice Hill tried to shake loose late, but Svanstedt and Ice Attraction stormed up on the outside of the track and collared that mare in the closing strides. Ice Attraction went on to freeze the teletimer in 1:50.1 en route to defeating Caprice Hill and the classy veteran, Charmed Life.
“Last year [winning the Kentucky Filly Futurity] was a real shock. This year was just a nice suprirse,” co-owner Jeff Gural said. “She’s been racing good but she’s had bad luck—she’s just been shuffled too far back. And of course with a seven-horse race and a horse breaking that makes it a lot easier.”
Ice Attraction, who was crowned the queen of the 2017 Kentucky Filly Futurity, won for just the second time this season for Ake Svanstedt Inc, Douglas Sipple, Mal And Janet Burroughs and Little E LLC. The daughter of Muscle Hill-The Ice Queen is an 11-time winner with career earnings totalling $615,066.
Be sure to check out the rest of the coverage from Kentucky Futurity Day in the 2018 Kentucky Futurity Day News Centre.