HAMBURG, N.Y. --- Jack and Maria Rice celebrated their 11th wedding anniversary on Saturday night (March 12) and their pacer, China Dream, gave them a great gift by posting a 1-3/4 length victory over Babe's I Scoot in the featured $10,000 Open Pace at Buffalo Raceway.

 

China Dream covered the mile in a seasonal best 1:54.4 and it was the fast clocking of the meet at Buffalo Raceway.

 

Getting a perfect trip from driver Jack Flanigen, China Dream rolled three-wide down the backstretch the final time and overtook the pace-setting Western Alumni at the top of the stretch. In the drive to the wire, it wasn't a matter of who was going to win but just by how much.

 

China Dream used a throttled down last split of 27.3 and that was more than enough to secure the win. Babe's I Scoot (Jim Morrill Jr.) took second place while Burton Blue Chip (Lee Dahn) rode the pylons for third.

 

It was the third victory in six tries for China Dream in 2016, increasing his bankroll to $19,900 this year and $109,493 lifetime. The 5-year-old gelding (If I Can Dream-China Art) is trained by Maria Rice.

 

Morrill Jr. had five more wins in the sulky while Ray Fisher Jr. and Jack Flanigen each doubled.

 

The racing will resume on Wednesday night at 5 p.m. with a 12-race card scheduled.