Anderlecht Upsets In Cam Fella Final

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Published: March 21, 2009 10:55 pm EDT

Anderlecht took advantage of a perfect inside trip, and a few breaks along the way, to post an upset victory in Saturday’s $77,500 Cam Fella Pacing Series Final at Woodbine Racetrack

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Phil Hudon engineered the winning trip from post two with the four-year-old son of Cams Card Shark - Princess Chablis who got away fifth in the early stages and watched Card Dealer put up the opening fraction in :26.4.

Card Dealer, in rein to Jody Jamieson, continued up front and took the field past the half in :54.4 with My Masterpiece (Mike Saftic) sitting second and a rough-gaited Dancing With Fire (Luc Ouellette) racing third. Race favourite Real Celebration (Mark MacDonald) followed the top trio in fourth with Anderlecht close on his heels in fifth.

Despite being bumpy-gaited throughout, Dancing With Fire made an outside attempt as the field approached the far turn. He was unable to make any forward progress, however, and eventually jumped it off, briefly taking the forward momentum away from Real Celebration.

In the meantime, a seam had opened up for Anderlecht and Hudon took advantage, bringing his charge to the outside for the final quarter. The slick-gaited pacer kicked on with authority to win by 2-3/4 lengths in 1:50.1. Real Celebration rallied well to finish second with My Masterpiece shaking loose late to grab the show spot.

Anderlecht returned a whopping $34.60 for the win.

The clocking established a new stakes record for the Cam Fella which is open to three and four-year-olds. It was the second win this season for the Igor Vrablic trainee who is owned by the Black Road Stable of Kitchener and Point Zero Seven Racing of Burlington, Ontario.

The lion’s share of the purse increased his career bankroll to just over $185,000.

In other Open action, O'Brien Award winner Secrets Nephew returned to winning form in the weekly $50,000 top pace.

The heavy 3-5 favourite brushed up from third after a :27.3 opening quarter put up by Mattscape Seelster (Rick Zeron). With trainer and co-owner Lyle MacArthur in the bike, Secrets Nephew then rolled to the half in :56.1 before picking up the pace a little en route to three-quarters in 1:24. A seven-year-old son of Camluck - Table For Seven, Secrets Nephew pressed on down the stretch to win by one and a half lengths in 1:51.2.

Finding room at the pylons, longshot Mr Saratoga (Mark MacDonald) finished second while last week's winner, Oliver Jackson (John Thomson), rounded out the top three cashers.

MacArthur co-owns the winner of 36 races and over $1.1 million with Frank Grandinetti of Amherst, New York. The win was Secrets Nephew's second in seven '09 starts pushing his yearly earnings to almost $100,000.

A trio of Casie Coleman trainees also shared the spotlight at Woodbine on Saturday night when they prevailed in their respective assignments for the resident of Cambridge, Ontario.

Randy Waples guided the veteran pacer Our Lucky Killean (1:51) to victory in Race 5 while Veal Marsala (1:53.1) prevailed in Race 7 with Jody Jamieson at the lines. Clowns Smile (1:50.2) and Mark MacDonald also gave Coleman something to smile about when he scored his first win of the year in Race 9.

Coleman has sent 63 winners postward so far in 2009 and a total of 1,070 in her career. Her pupils have earned over $18.3 million over a 13-year period.

To view Saturday's results, click here.

(With files from WEG)

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