The same night he was named Alberta's 2018 Two-Year-Old Pacing Colt of the Year at the ASHA Awards Gala, Outlawgrabbingears made his sophomore debut a winning one in the Keith Linton Memorial eliminations on Friday night (March 22) at Fraser Downs.
Trained, driven and co-owned by Paul Davies, Outlawgrabbingears opened the program with a 1:54.2 front-end victory in his $10,000 elimination.
The Smart Shark-Grand Slam Woman colt set fractions of :28.1, :59 and 1:26.4 en route to the career-best score by 2-1/4 lengths, with Spiderdman and Night Stick following in second and third, respectively.
Nicole Davies and Deborah Pinel also share ownership of Outlawgrabbingears, who earned more than $100,000 last year and won seven of his nine starts including the Alberta Super Final.
Also making his first seasonal start, popular local colt Bettor Cat wore down pacesetter Go Nine O (:28.4, :58.3, 1:27.4) to win the second elimination by 1-1/4 lengths in 1:56 flat for trainer Jim Marino and co-owner J J J Stable. Kootenay Mystery finished third.
Brandon Campbell, who took Driver of the Year honours in Alberta, reined home the elimination winner as Marino has been sidelined following a training accident earlier this week.
The Bettors Delight-Cats Meow colt earned $61,565 during his freshman campaign with four wins from seven starts and a pair of runner-up efforts in the B.C. Breeders Stakes Championship and Dan Ingram Memorial.
In regular racing action, Cusdmagicidragon earned her third straight victory in the $12,000 Mares Open Pace, coming within two-fifths of a second of her divisional track record.
After pulling first-up into the clubhouse turn, Custard Lite eventually overtook the front-striding Tahiti Seelster as they rounded the final bend, but 3-5 favourite Cusdmagicidragon swept by late to steal the glory in 1:52.4 with Paul Davies catch-driving. Scardy Cat edged out Tahiti Seelster in a photo for show.
The four-year-old Custard The Dragon-Rockumentary mare, who has finished no worse than second in seven Fraser starts this year, is owned by trainer Kelly Hoerdt along with partners Blair and Erna Corbeil.
The win completed a training triple through the first 10 races for Hoerdt. Marino trainees also tripled on Friday night.
To view Friday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Friday Results - Fraser Downs.