by Garnet Barnsdale

It’s very rare to see a horse leave from the outermost post, race parked the mile and still win.

Four-year-old trotting mare Majestic Presence pulled off such a feat on Thursday night (April 27) at Mohawk Racetrack. But it was more so the manner in which she won that makes this daughter of Majestic Son from the Kadabra mare Cuddler buzzworthy.

Leaving as #10 from post 9 (due to an early scratch) for trainer/driver Dagfin Henriksen, Majestic Presence was a step slow leaving as the three rivals to her inside – #6 Justasmalltowngirl, #7 Windsun Missile and #9 Class Me Nice all left hard and eventually took turns on the lead.

With the battling materializing in front of him and no room on the inside to drop down into a following spot, Henriksen had no choice but to keep Majestic Presence on the limb and bide his time. Still sitting fourth, five-and-a-half lengths in arrears of the leader past a :58 half and with no one in front of her moving, things didn’t look great for Majestic Presence. Henriksen idled her in 4th at the 3/8ths pole, trying to fish Justasmalltowngirl out of third for some cover, but that mare wasn’t taking the bait, so Majestic Presence accelerated as the field hit the turn.

This is where the only bit of luck materialized as Windsun Missile popped the pocket to give the eventual winner some brief cover. As the field straightened out for the drive, Henriksen asked Majestic Presence for her best and she powered away to a four-and-a-half length win despite having race parked the mile (uncovered for 7/8ths).

That she was 5 1/2 to 1 was in retrospect an overlay as she was facing much easier than she had been in the non-winners of four races lifetime class. Perhaps bettors were worried about how she might fare from an outer post. Those with good memories, or those that take notes or have access to her lifetime past performances shouldn’t have been. Majestic Presence won two in a row from the farthest outside post in January at Woodbine. In those victories, she went postward at odds of 31.75 to 1 and 12 to 1.

If you see this buzzworthy trotting mare going off at a big price from an outside post in the future, she wouldn’t be the worst stab you could take at the windows that night.