from WEG communications

Campbellville, ON — Anndrovette, with driver Tim Tetrick, overhauled pacesetter Drop The Ball in deep stretch to successfully defend her Roses Are Red title on Saturday at Mohawk Racetrack in a stakes, track and Canadian record time of 1:48.

What a night it was for Tetrick, as he also won the prestigious Maple Leaf Trot with champion Market Share and took a Canadian Breeders Championship final earlier on the card with longshot Thankyoukessel.

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Anndrovette was a narrow winner in the Roses Are Red in a stakes record time of 1:48.

Anndrovette, who won last year’s renewal of the Roses Are Red, defeating Drop The Ball and Rocklamation, once again faced her bitter rivals in this year’s edition for mare pacers.

Send postward the 6-5 choice, Anndrovette, who was coming off an elim win last week, when she fended off a closing Rocklamation, was hustled to the front by Tetrick, getting an opening quarter in :26.2, before Drop The Ball, the other elim winner last week, blasted by before the half in :53.2.

Drop The Ball and driver Doug McNair took the field through three-quarters in a blistering 1:20.1 but braced for the challenge of Anndrovette down the stretch. Inch by inch, the two-time Breeders Crown winner closed the margin and finally got by the pacesetter for the record-setting half-length score in the C$323,500 event.

“We left hard,” said Tetrick. “I knew Dougie was going to come. Dougie’s mare, when he starts her up, she can go really fast. It was all she could do to get by her. The connections have done a great job with her. She just loves to race. She’s so nice to handle.”

Anndrovette picked up C$161,750 for the win, as the 6-year-old daughter of Riverboat King-Easy Miss won her 34th race in a career best time, clipping one-fifth of a second off her previous mark of 1:48.1, set last year in the Roses Are Red.

“I got away third, so I had to go back to the front, and I made sure I came hard because that mare of Tim’s (Anndrovette), she can go all day,” said McNair, about Drop The Ball. “I don’t think she could have paced any better. She got beat by an iron tough mare. She was awesome.”

As the favorite, Anndrovette, trained by PJ Fraley, paid $5.20, $3.60 and $2.30, combining with Drop The Ball ($4.00, $2.60) for a $19.50 (4-3) exactor. A 4-3-7 (Rocklamation, $2.30) triactor came back $23.70 while a $1 superfecta (4-3-7-10 — Krispy Apple) was worth $301.60.