HAMBURG, N.Y. --- Heavenly Place won the cavalry charge to the wire and registered a determined head victory over Ugly Betty in the $10,500 Fillies and Mares Open Pace in 1:59.1 over a sloppy track at rainy Buffalo Raceway Wednesday evening (April 30).
It was a last-to-first place rally for Heavenly Place ($7.00) as the razor-sharp 6-year-old mare has now been in the money 11 of 12 races in 2014 including six victories.
The front-running St Lads Zena set the fractions to the third-quarter marker with times of 29.1, 59.2 and 1:29.3. As heads turned for home, the compact field of six all fanned out with a chance for the victory.
But it was Heavenly Place (David McNeight III), sitting sixth and last at the three-quarter pole, who was the widest and fastest in the race to the wire. The final panel of 29.0 was enough to edge out a hard-charging Ugly Betty (Jack Flanigen). Dontch Remember (Ray Fisher Jr.) finished in third place.
Owned by Chs Racing and Limerick Racing, Heavenly Place (Riverboat King-Angel Place) is trained by David McNeight Jr. The win pushed her winnings to $34,922 this year and $112,495 lifetime.
A busy weekend schedule at Buffalo Raceway kicks off on Friday night with a 13-race card slated for 6:40 p.m.
by Brian J. Mazurek, for Buffalo Raceway