Manchego rallied powerfully after a third-over journey and won Sunday afternoon's $100,000 Maxie Lee Invitational for open trotters at Harrah's Philadelphia in 1:51 3/5, a track record clocking for an older trotting mare despite sloppy track conditions. Starting from post five, Manchego just floated away under the guidance of Dexter Dunn, and she landed in the fifth position, tracking a tucking-in It's Academic (Yannick Gingras). Meanwhile, Guardian Angel AS (Tim Tetrick) blasted to the front from post seven and reached the opening quarter in 27 seconds. Guardian Angel AS remained the front-stepper at the 55 3/5 half, and the outer tier developed coming to that marker, with Forbidden Trade (Bob McClure) going first-over from third, tracked by It's Academic and Manchego. Forbidden Trade gained steadily to get on even terms with Guardian Angel AS, and Forbidden Trade poked a nose in front at the 1:23 3/5 three-quarters. On the last turn Forbidden Trade continued to show an advantage on the rim, but Guardian Angel AS was able to keep inside position, keeping Forbidden Trade two-wide. While that was going on, Gingras sent It's Academic three-wide midway through the bend, with Manchego stacking up four-wide. In the lane Forbidden Trade put Guardian Angel AS away for good, but Manchego was in full flight for the wire, and she overhauled him. From there, Manchego set sail to the wire, and she would defeat Lindy The Great (Andy Miller), who was able to angle out in the lane from the pocket, by a pair of lengths, with Forbidden Trade back in third. It's Academic wound up fourth, and Majestic Player A (Todd McCarthy) got fifth. While the margin of victory made it look easy, Dunn did say he had a bit of concern during the race. "She usually travels so strongly on the bit throughout the mile, but going around the last turn there, she just sort of let go on me a little bit, and I was a touch worried, but as soon as I moved her over she was gone," remarked Dunn. "Like always, she's a pleasant ride. "She's good at breaking track records that's for sure. She's been doing it pretty well for the last couple years." Nancy Takter trains Manchego, a 6-year-old Muscle Hill mare, for owner Black Horse Racing. This was her 35th career victory, and she has now earned $2,840,126. Sent off as the favorite, she returned $4.20 to win. "Ideally she should have been in Sweden representing the United States today in the Elitlopp, but I guess that wasn't in her cards," said Takter. "I'm happy we got the win here. She looked great, and she's got a great season ahead of her, so I really look forward to racing her. "We'll have to get through this year, but we've kind of talked a little bit about maybe taking her to Europe at the end of this season. We'll have to see how she progresses, and obviously we don't want to make too many plans into the future since anything can happen with horses. We'll just take one race at a time, and try to keep her happy and healthy, and she'll perform." Owner Barry Guariglia added, "When she was warming up, what was going through my head is 'what am I going to do when she's done for real?' I was a little concerned, like Dexter said, going down the backside, she looked a little lazy, but as soon as he said go, she was gone. She just gobbled them up, which is kind of what she does." Manchego was slated to retire after her 5-year-old campaign before Takter was able to convince Guariglia otherwise, so the question throughout this season will be if this is it for the great mare. When asked about Manchego's future, Guariglia remarked, "It's too early to tell. It would be tempting (to bring her back), I can say that much. I'm sure we'll have our peaks and valleys as the year goes on, but we'll see. She's one of a kind."