Love You Bye made it four wins in the last five starts at Vernon Downs in the $10,000 feature pace Thursday night.
Ugly Betty (John Macdonald) led the way through an opening quarter of :27.3 after taking over early on. Upfront Secret (Chris Lems) was moved aggressively to the outside and surged to the front once the field moved past the half in :56.1.
Love You Bye (Jimmy Whittemore) made the next attack as the field was on the far turn and rolled up alongside Upfront Secret to take the lead as field approached the top of the stretch. From there, she withstood strong challenges from Ugly Betty, who re-rallied up the inside, and Asset Management (Fern Paquet, Jr.), who had charged up from the back of the pack, to win by nearly two lengths in the final time of 1:53.1 over Ugly Betty and Asset Management.
The win by Love You Bye, a daughter of Mcardle-Cams Genious, was part of a three-win night for driver Jimmy Whittemore. He went gate-to-wire in the fourth race with Bugsy Malone, pulled off an 8-1 upset with a come-from-behind score from Frosty Delight in the sixth race, and then came through with Love You Bye in the featured eighth race.
Live racing resumes at Vernon Downs with a nine-race program on Friday night. The feature race on Friday night is the sixth race, a $9,000 Open I Trot, with a field of six. The 9-5 morning line favourite is A Penny Earned, who is trying to extend his winning streak to three in this spot. Post time on Friday night is 6:45 p.m.
(Vernon Downs)