BREEDERS CROWN : Scenic Regal Not Going Back for Seconds

Scenic Regal is a lady in waiting.

Friday night, she will try to become a queen of the sport she has served so well when she attempts to win the Mare Trot, one of eight Breeders Crown harness races contested at Pompano Park.

A victory would be the first for the 8-year-old mare after finishing second three consecutive times in the race.

To accomplish that, she will have to beat eight rivals including the 4-year-old Peace Corps, who won the 2-year-old Filly Trot in 1988 and the 3-year-old Filly Trot last year. Only two horses have won three Breeders Crown races--the mare Grades Singing and the horse Mack Lobell, both trotters.

“This is just a perfect mare in all ways,” said Harold Story, who drives Scenic Regal for owner Dr. Terrance McGee, a veterinarian from Marlboro, Mass. “She does absolutely nothing wrong, on the track or in the barn.”

Scenic Regal has made 122 starts and has scored 68 wins, 23 seconds and eight thirds, with earnings of $956,140. This year, she has eight wins, six seconds and one third in 17 races.

Scenic Regal drew the No. 7 post. Peace Corps, who has raced this year in Scandinavia and Europe, drew the No. 4 post.

While Peace Corps will try to do what only two others have done, Beach Towel will try to make history in the 3-year-old Pace.

A victory or a second-place finish in the $366,933 race would make Beach Towel, who has 17 wins and four seconds in 22 starts this year, the first harness racehorse to win $2 million in one year.