Queen of Maine
Rallying from last to first, CMS424’s Queen of Mali won the Grade III Great Fiddle Sticks Handicap on Saturday. The daughter of Kingmambo showed great improvement in her first try at a graded stakes. The win improved her ranking to 58th among three year old fillies at a classic distance.
CMS424 had prepped her for this with a pair of nine furlong stakes, so she was more than ready for this eight and a half furlong challenge.
Finishing second was Noia’s Capoeira, picking up her second finish in the money in graded company. Both of the top two fillies were assigned speed figures that were nine points higher than they ran in their previous race.
While the first and second place fillies were among the longest prices on the board, they were not big surprises as every filly in the field went off at less than 7-1 odds.
What may qualify as a minor surprise is that the favorite, Lifeshaft, out of the Lenny14 barn, got the early lead she craved, but was not able to able to maintain it and faded to fourth.
Rounding out the top three was the second betting choice, Super30’s I’ve Met Barb, an Empire Maker filly who showed a willingness to rally for the first time, before giving way to the top two.