Red Mile: Manchego crowned harness racing's fastest female trotter

Manchego is now the fastest trotting mare in harness racing history after she won the $69,500 Allerage Farms Open Mare Trot on Sunday afternoon at The Red Mile in 1:49 flat.

Coming off a 1:50 1/5 North American record in winning the Dayton Trotting Derby on September 27, Manchego and driver Dexter Dunn fired out strongly from post two but briefly allowed Hannelore Hanover (Yannick Gingras) to clear going to the 26 3/5 opening quarter. Dunn and Manchego wanted no part of the pocket, though, and she was re-moved to the front.

Manchego was full of herself on the engine, ripping through a swift half of 53 3/5, and she would maintain the lead and a quick tempo to three-quarters, which went on the board in 1:21. Plunge Blue Chip (Ake Svanstedt) came to the outside from third on the last turn, but was able to drop down in the two-hole going to three-quarters as Hannelore Hanover faded from that position.

Svanstedt angled Plunge Blue Chip back to the outside in the lane, and although she was able to cut into Manchego's margin, she just couldn't reach as Manchego held sway to the wire, winning by three-parts of a length. Ice Attraction (Andrew McCarthy) came in third.

The 1:49 flat clocking was one-fifth of a second better than Atlanta's 1:49 1/5 effort in Graduate Series final at the Meadowlands this summer, and it was made all the more remarkable given the cool and cloudy weather, with some light rain also falling at points overnight and into the daylight hours.

"Absolute credit to the track staff. I was actually out this morning having a cup of coffee down on the bottom turn. They were scraping the track, and it was pretty bad. The condition they've got the track in right now is a credit to them," said Dunn. "In Dayton she was just awesome. She's been racing great all year. She's been in tough company, but she's such a great mare and a pleasure to sit behind. That race at Dayton, we got down to the half in 54, and on a five-eighths track, that's pretty good going. She wanted to go faster after that, so she's just in top form right, and she produced another great run.

"I was trying to slow her down as much as I could going to the half and it still popped up fast. I was like 'this is going to a tough one for her.' I heard Ake, he got on my back around the turn before we straightened up, but she was never letting a horse past her today. She was fired up. Once he got to my wheel, she kept on trucking. Credit to all the staff of the Johansson Stable and the horse herself. She did all the hard work, and she deserves all the credit."

Nancy Johansson trains Manchego, a 4-year-old daughter of Muscle Hill, for Barry Guariglia's Black Horse Racing. This was her 24th career victory, and she has now pocketed $1,847,980. She was the even-money favorite and paid $4.00 to win.