by John Pawlak, marketing director, USTA

Columbus, OH — Alton Lynch, Jr., Inc. and Wayne Chrebet’s Southwind Tempo, who had been named Horse of the Month because of her outstanding racing exploits in June, has been named the repeat winner of the honor in July by the U.S. Trotting Association.

The 3-year-old daughter of Bettor’s Delight-Tsunami Hanover has been nearly flawless, in fact in 2007 she has tasted defeat only once in 13 trips behind the starting gate, and in July she won added-money races at Monticello Raceway, Harrah’s Chester Casino and Race Track, and the Meadowlands, proving she can win no matter the track size, and whether or not she races near her New Jersey base.

On a rainy Independence Day on the half-mile track at Monticello, Southwind Tempo and her regular driver, Tim Tetrick, were easy winners in the $222,250 Lady Catskill Pace Final, in 1:54.3, employing their usual go-to-the-top and dominate tactics.

Eight days later they visited the five-eighths-mile surface at Harrah’s Chester, in Philadelphia, where they led every step — no problem, it seemed, after leaving post position eight — and won a $50,000 division of the inaugural Valley Forge Pace, in 1:50.3.

Yet another stakes victory came on the mile oval at the Meadowlands on July 20 when she annexed a $58,000 division of the Tarport Hap, also in 1:50.3, and also in wire-to-wire style, and she concluded the month with a 1:49.3 win in the Mistletoe Shalee eliminations at the Big M — in which she matched a track record in the process.

“I talked to her a little bit late, but she just drew off on her own,” Tetrick said after the Mistletoe Shalee elimination. “She’s just awesome. She drives like a 9-year-old mare who’s done this a bunch of times before. She’s been so good all along, no matter what track or how you race her.”

Likely not good news for her foes in this week’s $320,000 Mistletoe Shalee Final.