Miki And Minnie hadn't been in pari-mutuel action since the Kentucky Championship Series final back on September 14 but showed no rust in winning the lone C$34,250 Breeders Crown 3-Year-Old Filly Pace elimination at Woodbine Mohawk Park in a Canadian record-equaling in 1:48 2/5.
Driven by Dexter Dunn, Miki And Minnie tracked Faze (Tim Tetrick) from the pocket through opening-half fractions of 27 and 55 4/5, then vacated the pylons before the 1:22 3/5 three-quarters, giving cover to Unreasonable (Marcus Miller), Chantilly (James MacDonald) and Rose (Ronnie Wrenn Jr.).
In the lane Miki And Minnie went by Faze to take over the top spot, then fought off Unreasonable to the wire to prevail by half a length. Skywalker Sea (Austin Hanners) angled out in the lane out of the three-hole and was a traffic-troubled third, followed by Faze. Rounding out the horses who advanced to the final and will meet bye-takers The Last Martini and Rodeo Drive Deo were Rose, Chantilly, Millie May Hanover (Todd McCarthy) and Outtathisworld Deo (Doug McNair).
"I got away pretty good in the first turn and the trip worked out after that. She felt great on the helmet, and I just moved her over there in the last turn," Dunn remarked. "he really let down good and the run's going to do her a lot of good, too. She'd only had one qualifier and hadn't raced for a while, so I'm really happy."
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Chris Ryder trains Miki And Minnie, a daughter of Always B Miki, for owners/breeders Craig Henderson, Robert Mondillo and Lawrence Minowitz. She has a summary of 17-6-1 from 24 outings, has pocketed C$2,284,770 and paid $3.10 to win.
"Obviously it worked out all right now, but I wanted to race her because it would have been five or six weeks (off) before the going into final if I didn't," Ryder remarked about not taking a bye right to the final. "Otherwise I'd have to qualify and she needed the race. It's super it worked out the way it did. It's looking good.
"She's easy to train. She's just a super filly. She's won so many races this year so well and she's tough. She just doesn't seem to have an end to her run and she's beautiful to be around."
Here is the draw for next Saturday's final:
1-Outtathisworld Deo
2-Unreasonable
3-Rose
4-The Last Martini
5-Miki And Minnie
6-Skywalker Sea
7-Faze
8-Millie May Hanover
9-Rodeo Drive Deo
10-Chantilly