Tioga: Solar Sister turns the tables on Lady Shadow in Artiscape

Solar Sister, who was second to Lady Shadow in the Golden Girls and Lady Liberty at the Meadowlands, got the better of her main rival in Sunday afternoon's $200,000 Artiscape at Tioga Downs, picking up a new lifetime mark of 1:49 4/5 in the process.

Lady Shadow (Yannick Gingras) gained the lead from Table Talk (Andy Miller) just beyond the 26 2/5 opening quarter, while Solar Sister (Doug McNair) got away fifth from a trailing post ten starting spot. As they passed the wire for the first time, McNair brought Solar Sister first-over, and she was 4 1/2 lengths behind Lady Shadow at the 54 second half-mile marker.

Solar Sister chipped Lady Shadow's lead down to just a length at the 1:21 2/5 three-quarters, and the top two pacing mares would continue their battle around the far turn and into the stretch, opening up a big lead on the rest of the field in the process. In the lane, Solar Sister forged her way by Lady Shadow, and Solar Sister would go on to win by a length and a quarter. Lady Shadow stayed on to finish second, and Devil Child (David Miller) rallied from ninth to third in the final quarter.

"She finally got by her. It's been a long season chasing that mare around," McNair said. "It was good to finally get by her. She doesn't mind being first-over. She was first-over a couple times at the Meadowlands this year, and she battled tough. I figured one of these times she was going to get up and win.

"It's a tough category, just good to have one that can compete and once in a while jump up and win."

Solar Sister, a 4-year-old Mach Three mare, is a homebred racing for David Willmot and Clay H. Horner, and she is trained by Gregg McNair. This was her 14th career victory, and she has now earned $960,713. The O'Brien Award winner for top 3-year-old pacing filly in Canada last year, Solar Sister returned $9.50 to win after being sent off at 7-2.