American Passion wore down the popular pacesetter Sing Like An Angel to win her debut for new connections in Saturday's $11,000 Fillies & Mares Open Pace at Century Downs Racetrack and Casino.
American Passion advanced from fourth-place down the backstretch to confront Sing Like An Angel at the 1:28.4 third quarter mark and battled past that rival down the stretch for the one and a half length victory in 1:57.
She returned $9.60 to win as the 7-2 third choice in the six-horse field. Sing Like An Angel (Travis Cullen), the 2-5 talk of the toteboard in her season's debut, held on for second as 3-1 second favourite Tajmeallover (J.F. Gagne) closed off cover to finish third.
A $100,000-earning Open mare from the Gerry Hudon stable, American Passion was claimed for $18,750 by trainer Greg Manning and Jody Earle in her last start following top-two finishes to start her six-year-old season. David Kelly catch-drove the American Ideal mare in Saturday's featured Open event.
Philip Giesbrecht drove three winners on the nine-race card, including a pair from his own stable, while meet leading trainer/driver Travis Cullen also tripled. Among Cullen's winners were the undefeated L Dees Sunsetbeach and streaking Rocket Moma, who are both three-for-three in 2016.
To view Saturday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Saturday Results - Century Downs.