Meadowlands: Prescient Beauty bests favorites in Three Diamonds final

Prescient Beauty powered past pace-setter Zero Tolerance and favored Warrawee Ubeaut in the final strides to capture the $391,250 Three Diamonds final for 2-year-old pacing fillies at the Meadowlands on Saturday night.

Doug McNair guided Prescient Beauty out briskly from post seven and assumed command before the 27 1/5 quarter from stablemate Beautyonthebeach. Zero Tolerance and David Miller looked to drop in early behind the favorite, but when that hole evaporated, he sent the filly to the front, reaching the lead on the backstretch and going on to the half in 55 1/5.

Warrawee Ubeaut got underway before that call, and Yannick Gingras guided her up to near even position with pacemaker Zero Tolerance at three-quarters in a rated 1:24. That set up a huge stretch battle between Zero Tolerance and Warrawee Ubeaut, and with Renaissance Lady K unable to keep up with cover, McNair was able to deftly vacate the pocket and angle towards the three path in midstretch.

Though it appeared as if Warrawee Ubeaut was bearing out some and might impact the winner, McNair steered her clear of trouble and drove by late for the 1:50 4/5 career-best score. Zero Tolerance held together gamely late for the place spot ahead of Warrawee Ubeaut, who survived a brief inquiry to finish third.

Trained by Gregg McNair, Prescient Beauty, a daughter of Art Major, won for the fifth time this year in 13 starts. Owner-breeder James Avritt Sr. also had the fourth-place finisher in Beautyonthebeach.

"I didn't think I was going to get there at first," said Doug McNair. "But then she really kicked in."

Sent off as the third betting choice in the field, Prescient Beauty returned $11 to win.