Dayton: Lyons Sentinel roars again in Distaff Derby

Lyons Sentinel lowered the track record to 1:48 2/5 and just missed Somwhereovrarainbow's world record for a 4-year-old pacing mare on a five-eighths-mile track by a two-fifths of a second in taking Saturday night's $175,000 Dayton Distaff Derby at Hollywood Gaming Dayton Raceway.

Driven by Tim Tetrick, Lyons Sentinel settled in the fourth position and watched Rocknificent (Scott Zeron) dash to the point in a 26 3/5 opening quarter. With a parked Watch Me Now N (David Miller) making some headway on the outside, Tetrick elected to tip and roll with Rocknificent in the second quarter, and she was able to forge her way by Rocknificent prior to the 55 second half-mile marker.

Despite Watch Me Now N clogging the outer tier after Lyons Sentinel landed on the point, Tetrick decided to keep the tempo fast with his mare, and she roared through the three-quarters in 1:22 flat. Rocknificent went on the attack two-wide on the last turn, and her and Lyons Sentinel got separation from the others in a 26 2/5 last quarter. Rocknificent was game on the outside, but Lyons Sentinel had no intentions on yielding and kept her foe at bay to tally by a length and a quarter. Miss You N (Dexter Dunn) was third, Gia's Surreal (Bob McClure) came in fourth, and Drama Act (Chris Page) advanced from eighth to fifth in the final panel.

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"Those classy mares, you never know which one is going to show up and be really good that day. These two mares have been knocking heads all year and all last year and every time at 2," said Tetrick. [Rocknificent's] a great mare. It's just the way it's working out. I was going to race mine from the back, but I was getting ready to get locked in, and at 1-5, I had to make a move."

Jim King Jr. trains Lyons Sentinel, a 4-year-old daughter of Captaintreacherous, for owner Threelyonsracing. This was her 21st career victory, and she has now earned $1,841,044. She paid $2.60 to win.

Currently the top-ranked horse in the weekly top ten poll, Lyons Sentinel has won seven straight races and eight of her last nine tries.