Woodbine Mohawk Park: Chantilly vaults off cover to She's A Great Lady title

Undefeated 2-year-old pacing filly Chantilly is now seven-for-seven after converting a second-over trip into a 1:50 2/5 victory in the C$532,000 She's A Great Lady Stakes final on Saturday night at Woodbine Mohawk Park.

Driven by James MacDonald, Chantilly got away in mid-pack from post two while 86-1 longshot Millie May Hanover (Todd McCarthy) darted to the early lead. She would be overtaken by a brushing The Last Martini (Doug McNair) past the 27 second opening quarter, though. In the backstretch, Cant See Me (Bob McClure) tipped out of fourth and then went back to the pylons in third before the 55 2/5 half, and Chantilly also vacated the pylons from fifth before she grabbed the cover of Cant See Me on the final bend.

Cant See Me moved up to threaten The Last Martini at the 1:23 3/5 three-quarters, but The Last Martini was game and managed to fend her off into the lane as MacDonald swung Chantilly three-wide into the stretch. Once she was fed the clear racetrack, Chantilly was full of pace and blew by both The Last Martini and Cant See Me. It was all Chantilly from there as she pulled clear to the finish line, prevailing by open lengths. The Last Martini held off Cant See Me for third, Millie May Hanover turned the up-close trip into a fourth-place result and Cowgirl Hanover (Scott Zeron) collected fifth.

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"It's a lot of fun. Ever since this one's come around, she gives you chills just knowing you get to sit behind her every week. The trip worked out great, and then when I moved her, she just exploded," offered MacDonald. "She was two fingers the whole way, but in the last turn she wanted to roll. She swelled up big. I was just making sure I had lots of room to move her when I moved her because she was ready to do her thing."

Bred by owner Millar Farms and trained by Nick Gallucci, Chantilly has earned C$541,000. The daughter of Big Jim paid $2.50 to win as the 1-5 favorite.

"I'm always pessimistic usually training down, but she always showed enough, especially when we started training them in bikes," said Gallucci. "I started getting excited about her. Around the start of June I figured that we had a pretty nice filly on our hands.

"I had quiet confidence. I figured the only way she'd get beat is if she beat herself. Luckily that didn't happen. James gave her a great trip and she did what she had to do."