Prairie Meadows: Ginger Added puts away pace rivals to take Eisenhower

ALTOONA, Iowa - Favored Ginger Added ($5) hugged the rail under jockey Jake Barton and fended off her chief rival Praire Cougar to take the $70,000 Mamie Eisenhower Stakes, a six-furlong event for Iowa-bred fillies and mares, by 2 1/4 lengths.

Following a winless campaign in 2012, the resurgent 5-year-old mare, 2 for 2 on the season, has come back better than ever.

Along with the winner, Praire Cougar and Cat's Review dueled through solid fractions of 22.25 and 45.51 seconds before the Dick Clark-trained Ginger Added responded best to her rider's urgings and edged clear in the stretch. Queen Lilly Kay saved ground throughout but failed to threaten while staying on for third.

Collecting $40,000 for her owners, Clark and his assistant trainer Brandi Jo Fett, who also serves as the Iowa Thoroughbred Breeders and Owners Association executive director, Ginger Added won for the seventh time, tallying her fourth Iowa-bred stakes win, and increased her lifetime earnings to $296,871. She covered the six furlongs in 1:10.67.