Face The Shadows dominates at Buffalo

HAMBURG, N.Y. — Face The Shadows ($3.72) didn’t leave a shadow of a doubt in the $15,500 Open Pace for the fillies and mares at Buffalo Raceway as she took early command and never looked back in registering a 2-1/2 length victory over Elegant Woman A in a seasonal best of 1:56.1 over the fast track.

After watching Major Megan (Ron Beback Jr.) take early control, Face The Shadows made sure that advantage was short-lived, pouncing right back to the top.

With reasonable fractions of :29.3 and :59.2, Face The Shadows began to inch away from the field down the backstretch as Elegant Woman A (Drew Monti) tried to make her move on the outside.

With a 1:27.4 clocking at the three quarter pole, Face The Shadows opened up a two length lead and was never threatened down the lane. Elegant Woman A captured the second place prize while Major Megan rolled in for third.

It was the second victory in eight attempts for the 6-year-old Face The Shadows (Shadow Play-Face To Face). Co-owned by the El Dorado Stable and Michael Torcello, she is trained by Samuel Smith. The win increased her 2026 bankroll to $18,370 and to $162,279 lifetime.

Racing will resume on Friday afternoon at 2:30 p.m. with a 13-race card. It’s the start of the April Reins Claiming Series with seven divisions each going for $12,500. There are 53 entrants in Series with this week’s claiming tag set at $7,500.

For more information including the latest news, upcoming promotions, entries, results and race replays, go to www.buffaloraceway.com

For complete race results, click here: US Trotting results.

by Brian J. Mazurek, for Buffalo Raceway