If the race would have been one yard shorter, heavily favoured Atlantic Star would have completed a sweep of the three-week-long Claim To Fame series for $12,500-priced pacing mares. As it was, Always Be Lucy flew through the home stretch and needed every foot of the mile to snatch the championship in 1:53 on Tuesday (Jan. 25) at Miami Valley Raceway.
Trevor Smith guided Rose Run Vision to a mild 1:52.3 upset in the $30,000 Mares Open Pace at Miami Valley on Tuesday (Jan. 18), a day which also saw 18-year-old Clayton Pfeifer win his first race at a commercial track.
Sandy Sue and driver Trace Tetrick were content to sit third during most of the mile in the $28,000 Mares Open Pace on Tuesday (Jan. 11). The seven-year-old daughter of Shark Gesture roared through the stretch to collar Gone Girl who was second and finally Somebodyslilly, who had cut fractions of :28, 57.4 and 1:24.3 before surrendering in the shadow of the wire reached in 1:52.3.