Alberta Sires Stakes eliminations continued on Sunday afternoon (May 28) at Century Downs Racetrack and Casino with the three-year-old pacing colts vying for a spot in the next weekend's Alberta Plainsman final.
Lightly raced Outlaw Blue Ice ($14.40) circled the first elimination field to win in a career-best time of 1:54.2 for the father and son, training and driving team of Rod and Mike Hennessy.
The Blue Burner-Billie J Blue Chip gelding was ninth and last at the :55.2 half-mile mark before fanning widest of all on the backstretch and then sweeping by the reigning divisional champion Senga Nitro (Ryan Grundy), who had to go four-wide to make the lead early on. Rod Starkewski trainees Getup Gideon (Phil Giesbrecht) and Retros Mystery (Bill Tainsh Jr.) finished second and third ahead of the 3-5 favourite.
Unraced at age two, Outlaw Blue Ice has won two of his six starts for Rod Hennessy, who shares ownership with Lorne Duffield of Edmonton, Alta.
Mateo ($2.70) dominated the fastest $7,500 elimination of the day, winning in wire-to-wire fashion in a new lifetime mark of 1:54.1 for driver Phil Giesbretch and trainer Jim Marino.
Mateo took the lead off the gate from post four and carved out fractions of :27, :56 and 1:25.4 before drawing off by more than five lengths with a :28.2 final frame. Ima Dude (Mike Hennessy) chased the 3-5 favourite home from the pocket spot while Mr Peterman (Bill Tainsh Jr.) rallied four-wide down the backstretch to improve his position and finish third. Coz And Effect (Gary Clark) was fourth.
Mateo earned his first Sires Stakes win after hitting the board in all of his freshman starts, including a runner-up effort in the Super Final. The Blue Burner-Mater Deo gelding won four of nine races overall last year and is two-for-five this year. His total earnings are approaching the $100,000 mark. Mateo is owned by Christine Cutting of Airdrie, Alta. and Marino, who bought into the gelding at the start of the year and took over the training duties this month.
Both Outlaw Blue Ice and Mateo posted winning times just shy of the track record for sophomore geldings.
The Alberta Plainsman final will be contested next Sunday, June 4 at Century Downs.
To view Sunday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Sunday Results - Century Downs.