New York-sired Sister Mary Maude picked up her first Grand Circuit victory with a lifetime-best 1:53 tally in the $110,000 Crossroads of America for sophomore trotting fillies on Friday night at Harrah's Hoosier Park.
With David Miller in the bike for the first time, Sister Mary Maude made the lead very easily from post six and put up fractions of 26 3/5, 55 2/5 and 1:24 4/5. Indiana Sires Stakes star Danger (Robert Taylor) came to the outside from the pocket in the lane, but she couldn't mount any offense against Sister Mary Maude, who trotted a 28 1/5 final kicker to draw off and score by four lengths. Danger had to settle for finishing in a dead-heat with Bonn (Jordan Ross) for runner-up honors.
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"I've raced against her a few times, and I know she's pretty handy and pretty strong," Miller said after the victory. "She just got out of the gate and got to the lead. She had her ears up and was just kind of going along nice and easy. At the head of the lane I asked her, and she took right off."
A daughter of Crazy Wow bred by David Hanson, Sister Mary Maude is trained by Ron Burke for owners Burke Racing Stable LLC., William Switala, James Martin and Weaver Bruscemi LLC. She has nine wins from 23 career starts, has earned $493,873 and paid $3.40 to win as the 3-5 favorite.