Madeira Mist and With Patience set the pace and battled each other to the finish, but Finery blew past them both to win the 27th running of the $115,700 Athenia (gr. IIIT) at Aqueduct Sunday. Finery, ridden by Pablo Fragoso, won the 1 1/16-mile turf race for fillies and older mares in 1:43 3/5 over the firm turf. She paid $15.20. With Patience set the first fraction of :25 2/5, then allowed Madeira Mist to take the lead and set fractions of :50 1/5 and 1:14 3/5. In the stretch, Madeira Mist, under Jose Santos, went into a drive and With Patience, under Javier Castellano, followed. In the final sixteenth both were passed by Finery. Madeira Mist finished second, a half-length back. With Patience was another neck back in third.
"We had a good trip," Fragoso said. "She's a big filly and I thought as long as she handled the sharp turns, she'd be okay. Things opened up at the right time."Finery, a 4-year-old bay Virginia-bred filly by Lear Fan, earned $69,420 for owner Althea D. Richards. She is now 4-4-0 from 10 starts with earnings of $200,320.
"Pablo got her out at just the right time," said winning trainer Billy Turner. "She's been very good on turf, but I guess that's in her pedigree with Lear Fan. I'd like to run her next year because I think she'll go 11 or 12 furlongs with no problem."(Chart, Equibase)