by Ken Weingartner, Harness Racing Communications

Wilkes-Barre, PA — Agent Q and driver David Miller made a sustained first-over drive pay off in Saturday’s (July 1) $300,000 James M. Lynch Memorial for 3-year-old female pacers, taking the lead coming off the final turn and pulling away from the field in the stretch to win by three lengths in 1:51 at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono. Caviart Ally, a 196-1 longshot, finished second and 14-1 Brazuca was third.

Curtis Salonick photo

Agent Q won the James M. Lynch Memorial by three lengths in 1:51.

Agent Q, the 8-5 second choice behind favorite Tequila Monday, was fourth on the first turn as Idyllic Beach battled with Brazuca for the front. Idyllic Beach got the lead in a :26.1 opening quarter-mile, but it wouldn’t be long before Agent Q came calling.

“I expected there would be some horses to leave,” Miller said. “In the first turn they were going too hard to try to retake and my mare is pretty game so I took my shot coming first over.
“I felt good (on the final turn). My mare still had a nice hold of me. Yannick (Gingras with Idyllic Beach) had just asked his filly and I was getting to her pretty easy. I thought we were going to be in good shape unless somebody off the back got us. But she raced well. She’s very sharp right now.”

Agent Q, a daughter of Western Terror out of the mare Teenage Paige, has won four of seven races this year and earned $297,931. It was her first win in an open stakes final after second-place finishes in this year’s Fan Hanover Stakes and Lismore Pace and last year’s Breeders Crown and She’s A Great Lady. The setbacks in the Fan Hanover and Breeders Crown were both by a nose.

For her career, Agent Q has won seven of 17 races, finished second nine times, and earned $736,635. She is owned by Martin Scharf, Rochetti Cassar Racing, and Robert Muscara. She is trained by Aaron Lambert.

James M. Lynch Memorial Consolation

The Western Ideal filly YS Tallia, in the pocket early, looked shuffled out of contention in the $50,000 Lynch consolation as favored Roaring To Go made a big move in the :27.1 third quarter to gain a sizable lead, with gapping two-wide horses forcing YS Tallia to wait for clearance.

The filly was still four lengths out in midstretch, but driver Simon Allard kept after his charge as Roaring To Go tired, and he and YS Tallia crossed the wire first by a half-length in a lifetime mark of 1:51.4 over a track that had just been upgraded to “good.” Roaring To Go held on for second, 1-1/2 lengths ahead of the Pocono Pike-using Risky Romance.

YS Tallia, a Rene Allard-trained daughter of Western Ideal out of Bolero Tallia, has won two of seven races this year and earned $41,890 for breeder/owner Yves Sarrazin (the “YS” in YS Tallia). She was unraced at age 2.