by Karen Briggs, WEG media

Toronto, ON — Miss Sand Creek overcame a second-tier post position to capture her second straight C$20,000 leg of the Blizzard Pacing Series for 3- and 4-year-old pacing fillies and mares on Thursday night (Jan. 7) at Woodbine, while A Pippin Hanover made a late rush to capture her division of the same series.

Favorite Spirit To Spare (Luc Ouellette) did the heavy lifting throughout the mile in the first Blizzard split (race five) while Alex Lilley patiently threaded his filly through the pack from post 11. As the field neared the wire, Miss Sand Creek powered up on the grandstand side to steal the win by 1-3/4 lengths in 1:55.4. The Mistress (Mark MacDonald) came from the backfield to grab second, and Windsun Celestial (Simon Allard) was third.

Miss Sand Creek, a 3-year-old daughter of Red River Hanover, is trained and co-owned by Gerald Lilley with Ed Mullinax. This was her third consecutive win and sets her up for a sweep of the Blizzard Series when the C$60,000 (est.) final goes next week.

A Pippin Hanover used similar tactics to capture the second Blizzard division by a neck in 1:56.4 from Kim’s Quest (Luc Ouellette), who hung on for the place check after leading from the moment the wings folded. Joeys Girl (Mario Baillargeon) hung on for third.

Mark MacDonald engineered the win for the maiden 3-year-old daughter of Dragon Again, who was making her very first career start. Kristofer Di Cenzo trains the attractive filly, who was a $140,000 yearling purchase, for Antonio Chiaravalle.