HAMBURG, N.Y. --- It was a thing a beauty, especially if you had a couple of bucks on the nose of Ugly Betty.
She may have been the longest shot on the board, but Ugly Betty ($46.20) was first across the finish line in the featured $10,500 Fillies and Mares Open Pace at Buffalo Raceway Wednesday night (June 25). She beat Mondatta, sent off at 21-1, by 1-1/2 lengths in 1:57.4 as driver Jack Flanigen drove Ugly Betty to the surprise victory.
The pair combined for a $1,248 exacta and topped a $4,660 trifecta with You're Too Funny (Ron Beback Jr.), who finished in third.
CS Kentucky (Shawn McDonough) posted the fractions of 29.1, 59.3 and 1:29.0 but called it a night after that. Heavenly Place (David McNeight III) was first over and took over the lead at the top of the stretch. She then tired and threw in the towel. That allowed the second over and three-wide Ugly Betty (Camluck-Red Road Rage) to register a 28.2 final panel and cruise to the solid 1-1/2 length win over a late-pacing Mondatta (Jim McNeight).
Ugly Betty, a 6-year-old mare owned by Margaret Payne and Jennifer Falcone, has now won six times in 19 starts this season, bankrolling $42,648 in 2014 and $154,610 lifetime. Dennis Dylo handled the training duties.
Racing resumes on Friday night when two $60,200 divisions of the New York Sire Stakes for 3-year-old colts and geldings highlight the 13-race program that is scheduled to start at 6:40 p.m.
by Brian J. Mazurek, for Buffalo Raceway