Lucky Lil Lady endured a very sloppy track Sunday, Feb. 26 to win the $8,000 Fillies and Mares Open Pace at Cal Expo. The Indiana sired mare rallied home for the upset win in 1:58.4.
Lucky Lil Lady and LeMoyne Svendsen rallied in the stretch to win the Fillies and Mares Open Pace Sunday, Feb. 26 at Cal Expo over a sloppy track.
Driven by LeMoyne “Mooney” Svendsen, Lucky Lil Lady did not have early speed and found a spot near the back of the pack early as Marys Pretty Girl and Jim Lackey set the first fraction of :29.2. It wasn’t long until several horses moved to the outside to begin the challenge, including Lucky Lil Lady, who picked up cover to the half in :59.2. In the meantime, Wonder of Love and Elson Miller had moved out and around the leader to take over the top spot.
Around the final turn, Lucky Lil Lady was sitting perfectly for the stretch drive and tipped three wide to get even closer to the leader. In the stretch, she dug in gamely and went to battle with Wonder of Love for the win. Shesureissomething and Luke Plano also were closing in quickly to add a third challenger. In the end, Lucky Lil Lady scored the win in the center of the track, one and three-quarter lengths ahead of Shesureissomething. Wonder of Love finished third.
Lucky Lil Lady paid $23.20 for the win. The four-year-old daughter of Luck Be Withyou is owned by Robin Clements and trained by Quentin Schneider. Diamond H Racing Stable of Indiana bred the mare.
Lucky Lil Lady scored her third win of the season in six starts. She now has seven wins in 29 career starts after not racing as a two-year-old. Her career best time of 1:53.2 was taken last year as a three-year-old at Running Aces. She started off her career last year under the direction of Matthew Riggle and then Jacob Fox before moving to Minnesota with her current connections. She is a half sister to the tough race mare Debt Motivated, a daughter of Jereme’s Jet, who is still racing and has more than $221,000 on her card.