LEBANON, OH. – The fillies and mares $5000 claiming "Survivor Series" started with 60 mares in seven elimination divisions in mid-January and narrowed down to one nine-horse championship field, chasing a purse of $17,500, on the Tuesday (February 2) matinee at Miami Valley Raceway. With bragging rights on the line, Cinderosa was crowned 'Queen' by slicing through traffic in deep stretch to triumph in 1:56.1 over a sloppy track dampened by a thirty minute rainshower just prior to post-time for the harness racing co-feature. Four mares were lapped-on to each other at the wire, with another four just a length or two in arrears.
Driver Randy Tharps, just four wins away from his 5,000th career win, shot out quickly with Outback Alice when the gate opened, taking command before a taxing :26.4 first quarter. The longshot got a second quarter breather when the teletimer popped up :57.1, but favored Easter Surprize (Brady Galliers) was moving up rapidly on the outside and poked her nose in front moments later. Cinderose was sitting the pocket for driver Tyler Smith and Seaside Gal (Jeremy Smith) had taken up residence in the advantageous second-over position. With Outback Alice and Easter Surprize still racing stride-for-stride at the 1:26.2 third station, Seaside Gal swung three-wide and Make Way (Kyle Ater) angled out a lane further to take her best shot at championship glory. Midway down the stretch at least seven mares were still in serious contention until driver Tyler Smith found a seam for Cinderosa and pushed her nose in front in the final strides. Make Way's strong stretch effort netted the runnerup spot, while Seaside Gal garnered the show dough.
VIP Internet Stable owns the winning eight-year-old The Panderosa mare, who hails from the Chris Short stable barn. Cinderosa now sports 19 lifetime wins and her earnings now exceed $240,000.
Two races earlier on the program, just as the rain began to fall, a $12,800 championship tilt for $8000 claiming trotters went postward. Favored Without A Clue (Trace Tetrick) swung three-wide around tiring horses at the head of the stretch and swept to victory in 1:59.1. CDs Eldorado (Andy Shetler) and Pacific Wave K (Josh Sutton) both left aggressively from their outside posts and pressured pacesetting Cup Day Spur N (Kayne Kauffman) through fractions of :27.3, :57.4 and 1:27.2 before giving way to Without A Clue in mid-stretch. The trio of early leaders raced very creditably, though, as CDs Eldorado, Pacific Wave K and Cup Day Spur N held on for second, third and fourth place finishes, respectively.
Without A Clue is owned by Anna Lorentzon and trained by Anette Lorentzon. The seven-year-old son of Donato Hanover made just seven starts in 2015 after promising three and four year old campaigns, but seems back on track with two wins and a third place finish in three 2016 tries.
Gregg Keidel