The beat goes on for Diamond Tiara. On the warm, but windy,
Monday afternoon (April 14) Diamond Tiara scored her 10th seasonal
triumph and now leads all other standardbreds in races won in North America
this year.
Once again trainer Mike Watson availed himself of the
services of Jimmy Taggart, Jr. and Taggart responded by guiding Diamond
Tiara to a 1:58.1 triumph which was the mare’s sixth consecutive
victory. In the seven times that Taggart has driven her, Diamond Tiara has had
six wins and a second place finish.
However, according to Taggart, this victory today was a
little tougher than the last five.
“This was the first time that she had drawn the outside
(post seven) and I had to use her harder than usual to get to the front,”
Taggart said. “She leaves like a runner and we had command on the first turn
but that during that first eighth (of the mile) she was smokin’. I was able to
get into her a bit as we headed to the (first) quarter but we still were there
in :28.3.”
After they paced by the first stanza Taggart had Diamond
Tiara settled and she showed the way past the half in :59 but she had
lots of company when three others moved out to take a shot at her. So on
the clubhouse turn Taggart allowed his mare to step it up and they opened
daylight as they passed the three quarters and they had two lengths on the
field as they paced into the final turn.
With Temptation Queen and Bruce Aldrich, Jr. keeping the
pressure on, both mares dug in as they headed for paydirt and into a strong
head-wind. However Diamond Tiara held on to score a length victory over
Temptation Queen.
“She wasn’t as strong finishing today as she had been in her
last few starts but that first quarter took a little sting out of her, and the
wind in the stretch was strong, too. Still, she’s gritty,” Taggart added.
Owned by Philip Schultz, Diamond Tiara paid $4.20 for win.
With her 10th victory she currently has
first place all to herself on the North American leaderboard with one more win
than Rockin Rambaran, a Canadian pacer who’s been winning consistently at
Rideau Carleton.
