Canadian Ballet keeps her head in front

Trainer Linda Rice picked the right horse to bring to Philadelphia Park for Saturday's $200,000 .

After entering an uncoupled pair for the five-furlong turf sprint, Rice scratched Ahvee's Destiny and shipped in the 4-year-old filly Canadian Ballet.

Ridden by locally based jockey Stewart Elliott, Canadian Ballet ($8.60) dueled up front early, gave up the lead briefly in the stretch, but fought back to prevail by a head over Southern California invader Queen Ofthe Catsle.

A year ago, Canadian Ballet had finished eighth in the Turf Amazon after early traffic problems prevented her from flashing her customary speed. This time, she broke cleanly as the co-highweight at 123 pounds and covered the distance over yielding going in 57.76 seconds.

Queen Ofthe Catse, making her first start outside California, held off the late rally of Dubai Majesty by a neck.

Smart Fancy, who won this race in 2007 and was second last year, was a non-threatening fourth as the slight 2-1 favorite.