Whatineedisaman rallied late to steal the spotlight in a 1-2 finish for trainer Gord Abbott in the featured $10,000 Fillies & Mares Open Pace on Sunday afternoon (Jan. 2) as Fraser Downs's 2022 winter/spring meet kicked off.
The favourites were on the front early as 7-5 bettors' choice Hottieonthehorizon (Rick Lancaster) fired from the outside to take over command from insider Mrs Suhwiggins (Blaine Chappell). Hottieonthehorizon proceeded to lead the field of five distaffers through fractions of :28.3, 1:01.4 and 1:31.2 over the off going before a pair of Abbott trainees mixed things up.
Glimpseofgoodness (John Abbott) launched her attack from fourth at the third quarter mark and confronted the popular pacesetter turning for home, but it was her stablemate who pulled off the upset as Whatineedisaman rallied late from mid-pack to get up in time to score the 2:01.4 victory with Scott Knight aboard. Glimpseofgoodness edged out Hottieonthehorizon for second-place a half-length behind, giving the Abbott stable the 1-2 sweep in the feature.
The top two finishers are both owned by Nathan Sobey of Sturgeon County, Alta., and Paul Davies of Arthur, Ont.
The winner is a six-year-old daughter of Mystery Chase who put together a record reading 2-5-4 from 25 starts last year. Whatineedisaman earned her eighth lifetime victory and bumped her bankroll to $82,915.
She paid $11 to win as the second-longest shot on the board at odds of 9-2.
The victory was the third in a row and wrapped up a four-win performance on the eight-race card for Knight, who also scored with the Jim Marino-trained Riverunsnappy in the meet's opener.
Live harness racing continues at Fraser Downs on Monday, with post time set for 7 p.m. Fraser's 2022 winter/spring meet will follow a Sunday afternoon and Monday evening racing schedule through mid-May.
To view Sunday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Sunday Results - Fraser Downs