Woodbine Mohawk Park: Lyons Sentinel best again in Milton final

Lyons Sentinel continued to lord over the open pacing mares division in North America with a 1:49 2/5 victory in the C$240,000 Milton Stakes final on Saturday night at Woodbine Mohawk Park.

Driven by Tim Tetrick, Lyons Sentinel settled in the fourth position from post three while Rocknificent (Scott Zeron) hit the accelerator from post five and carved out the opening quarter in 26 2/5. Lyons Sentinel and Tetrick then vacated the cones to go on the attack in the backstretch, and she worked her way by Rocknficient after the 54 4/5 half-mile station.

On the far turn, Gia's Surreal (Bob McClure) was sent first-over out of the third position, and Lyons Sentinel had to go to work to repel her bid to the 1:22 2/5 three-quarters. Tetrick also popped Lyons Sentinel's earplugs turning for home, but she responded to that and dug in to the wire, defeating a game Rocknificent by a length and a half. Gia's Surreal wound up third, followed by Marloe Hanover (David Miller) and Karma Seelster (Doug McNair).

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"There are some great mares in there. I raced her differently than I normally do. I like her better in tracking position, but I didn't want to be first-up from the three-eighths pole and have to go against a great mare in Rocknficient, so I took my shot," said Tetrick. "When she's on the lead, she starts looking at butterflies and looking up the air and stuff, but she's a champion. She figured it out. She put her head down and got the job done."

Jim King Jr. trains Lyons Sentinel, a 4-year-old Captaintreacherous mare, for owner Threelyonsracing. Lyons Sentinel, who was won six straight races and seven of her last eight, has a summary of 20-13-3 from 42 lifetime tries, and she has now pocketed $1,932,472. She paid $2.50 to win as the 1-5 favorite.