There may not be a faster Quarter Horse on the grounds right now, as Flyin Lion won her fourth straight race and set a new track record in the process, winning the $11,200 Autumn Handicap at Portland Meadows on Sunday. Sent off as the 2/1 slight favorite, Flyin Lion ($6.20) and Eduardo Gutierrez-Sosa broke inward at the start, but within a few jumps, accelerated out to the lead. She had been lugging out in her previous wins, but this time she just flew in a pretty straight line.
“I actually just added some athletic tape to the outside of her blinkers to try and make her focus that much more,” said winning trainer Scott Raley. “She was so fired up this morning that I knew she was going to run huge.”
She ran huge alright, as she stopped the clock in 19.749 seconds, breaking the previous record, held by Scott Raley trainee Victorys Wicked Lad of 19.810 seconds. CM Got Overserved finished up in second while Ba Snowbound Chick was third.
Flyin Lion is a three year old filly who is owned and bred by Mike and Sherry Reardon. After her win in the PM Fall Derby, Raley had planned on giving her the rest of the season off.
“She’s a Washington bred and there isn’t much left for her this year,” said Raley. “I didn’t really want to run her in this spot cause it was against the older boys. But the owners wanted to give it a try, and man did she run fast. She’s a bit of a late bloomer and doesn’t train all that fast in the morning, but in the afternoons, she’s all business.
News and Notes…..Nobody had today’s Pick 4, so there will be a carryover into Wednesday November 13th’s card of $3,714. The Portland Meadows Pick 4 features a 14% take out rate and covers races 7 through 10. The $0.25 Pick 5 was hit on Sunday after nobody could piece together a winning combination this past Wednesday. There were four winners on Sunday, with each winning $0.25 combination returning $2,169.72.
