Paul and Andrena Van Doren’s Sterling Madame,
away alertly and quickly in command, made the pace and then
drew off late to capture Wednesday’s $49,000 Fair Grounds filly and mare
feature by three lengths.
As
the odds-on choice of the fans, the daughter of Unbridled Energy
returned mutuels of $3.20, $2.40 and $2.20, toured the mile and 70 yard
distance in the race taken off the grass and run on the main track in
1:43.42 after early splits of 23.96 and 48.41 and increased her career
earnings to $69,600 with her second win in five lifetime starts. Trained
by
Tom Amoss, Sterling Madame was ridden by
James Graham.
Freddy Lewis Jr.’s
Even
Forest
challenged briefly approaching the lane, could not match the
winner but was easily second best, paying $4.80 and $4 while finishing
four lengths in front of Greg Foley and John Michael Davis’s
Shanfield, who returned $4.60.