Meadowlands: Lady Shadow wraps up her season with TVG FFA title

Lady Shadow usually does her work on the engine, but driver Yannick Gingras, noticing that the front-end has not been the place to be on Saturday night at the Meadowlands, raced her from first-over in the $200,000 TVG FFA for pacing mares. That decision proved to be a prudent one, as she stormed by Solar Sister and went on to win in 1:50.

Inittowinafortune (Andy Miller) led the field of nine to the 26 4/5 opening quarter, but driver Brian Sears sent Solar Sister to the outside out of third, and she would take over the front before the 54 3/5 half-mile marker. Gingras and Lady Shadow wheeled first-up out of the fourth position at the half, and she would gain quickly, taking over the lead on the rim by half a length at the 1:22 2/5 three-quarters.

Lady Shadow was clear through the stretch, and although several mares had chances to track her down, they couldn't do it, with Lady Shadow hitting the wire a length and a half to the good. 42-1 shot Bedroomconfessions (Scott Zeron) rallied from eighth to second in the final quarter, with Sassa Hanover (Matt Kakaley) third after tracking the eventual winner's cover from second-over. Solar Sister held fourth, and Venus Delight (Tim Tetrick) collected fifth.

"The strategy changed the way the card has been playing out," explained Gingras. "I think at this point everybody knows the front-end has been pretty dead. She loves that spot, but I figured I wasn't going to let the bias beat me tonight, so there was no way I was going to be on the front.

"I knew Sassa Hanover was on my back. I figured at that point I was pretty confident I was going to beat Brian, but I knew with Matt on my back, she raced really good last week in the Breeders Crown, so I knew she was the mare to beat. My mare felt really, really strong at the top of the stretch, so I knew she'd have to go a big last quarter to beat me."

Ron Adams trains Lady Shadow, a 5-year-old mare by Shadow Play, for owners David Kryway, Carl Atley, Ed Gold, and Bfj Stable. This was the 28th win of her career, and she has now earned $1,591,542. The 1-5 favorite, Lady Shadow paid $2.40 to win.

"She's been iron-tough all year," said Adams. "We qualified her a couple times early in the year instead of racing her, and I think it paid off tonight. If she comes back this good I'll be happy with her, but she made a big step up. She's bigger and stronger. She went big trips last year, but this year she just carried her speed a little better."