by Mark McKelvie for WEG

Toronto, ON — Wanda Bayama turned in a career best effort to the win the C$20,000 second leg of the HPIBET.com Friday (March 11) night at Woodbine Racetrack.

A big field of 11 4-year-old pacing mares squared off Friday, but the clear horse to beat was Rick Zeron trainee Our Hot Majorette.
The Zeron trainee captured one of two first leg divisions and with Much Adoo, the other first leg winner, skipping leg two, Friday’s second leg looked like Our Hot Majorette’s for the taking.

Aniston Seelster flashed early speed to grab command, but Zeron pushed the 3-5 favorite off the wings to get away second. After an opening-quarter of :27, Zeron circled around Aniston Seelster to put Our Hot Majorette on top.

The public’s choice put up solid middle-fractions of :56 and 1:24.2. Meanwhile, Sylvain Filion sent Wanda Bayama first-up from fifth around the final turn and pulled to within a couple lengths of the leader turning for home.

In the stretch, Our Hot Majorette was all out trying to hold off her rival, but Wanda Bayama showed plenty of grit and surged by to win in 1:51.4.

Yes You Can, who paced along third the for the majority of the mile, finished up strong to take second away from the favorite, while Aniston Seelster finished fourth.

A daughter of Western Ideal, Wanda Bayama is trained by Stephane Larocque for owners Bayama Farms Inc. The 4-year-old old finished second in a round one division last week.

Friday’s victory gives Wanda Bayama her first win in two starts this year and eight career victories overall. The Larocque trainee increased her earnings to over C$87,000 with the win.

In order to be eligible to the HPIBET.com, the 4-year-old pacing mares had to be non-winners of $100,000 lifetime as of October 31, 2015.
The C$54,400 final of the HPIBET.com will take place next Saturday, March 19.