by Brian J. Mazurek, for Buffalo Raceway
HAMBURG, N.Y. --- Valentine's Day is more than two weeks
away but Valentine Delight celebrated it early by stunning the field in the
$12,500 Open II-II Handicap Pace for the fillies and mares on Wednesday night
(Jan. 26) at Buffalo Raceway.
Trained and driven by Shawn McDonough, Valentine Delight,
now a winner in four of her last five appearances, returned a hefty $17.80 in
the six-horse field. She tracked down Pretty Blue Angel (Drew Monti) while the
tempo-setting Lady London (Ray Fisher Jr.) held on for third.
It was a great start to the season for McDonough as he
finished the night with a driving and training triple. He also scored and conditioned Tuscon Breeze
($17.20) in the opener and Falcon's Luke $16.60 in the sixth.
In the feature, Lady London showed the way through the
opening three panels with splits of :29.0, :58.4 and 1:28.4. Valentine Delight
sat back patiently and began to make progress starting at the
three-quarter marker, sitting in perfect position for the stretch run.
In the stretch, Pretty Blue Angel was making her in the
passing lane while Lady London was sandwiched in between with Valentine
Delight. But the drive to the finish line belonged to Valentine Delight as she
stopped the timer in 1:58.2 over the good track, beating Pretty Blue Angel by a
half length.
Owned by the Crazy Parrot Farm LLC, it was the second
victory in as many tries this season for the 5-year-old mare Valentine Delight
(Bettor's Delight-Lady Valentine). The win moved her earnings to $11,550 and
$52,007 lifetime.
Monti completed the evening with a driving triple while Joe
Skowyra notched two training wins.
Racing will continue on Saturday evening at 6 p.m. with an
8-race program scheduled.
