The curtains are coming down on stakes action for 2016’s harness racing season. Post positions were drawn this week for Saturday’s Northlands Filly Pace and Western Canada Pacing Derby, both with purses of $70,000.
Three-year-old pacing fillies Somewhere A Place (Serge Masse) and Lissoy (Kelly Hoerdt) punched their tickets to the big dance for this weekend's Northlands Filly Pace after victories in their respective $10,000 eliminations held last Friday.
Somewhere A Place, winning her Northlands Filly Pace elim
Somewhere A Place ($4.40) was made the public betting choice going at 6/5 odds and delivered big time. She made her Northlands Park debut a winning one as she was a dominant winner in the first elimination, torching the field by almost five lengths for trainer/driver Masse in a sizzling time of 1:56.1. Brighten Your Life (Phil Giesbrecht), Monstrous (J.F. Gagne) and Lucky Lucka (Hoerdt) all were involved in a three-way scramble for second, third and fourth. From the first elimination, the Hoerdt stable as a result was able to qualify Brighten Your Life and Lucky Lucka for the Filly Pace final.
Kelly Hoerdt was on fire that night. He picked up five driving victories on the 11-race program. One of the wins came in the second elimination as he qualified two more entrants for the Northlands Filly Pace in the form of Lissoy ($13.10), who was a wire-to-wire winner in a time of 1:56.1, establishing a new lifetime mark. Since coming out west from Ontario, she has now recorded a remarkable six wins in eight starts in Alberta. Hoerdt shares ownership of the Art Major-Lislea Sophia filly with Blair Corbeil of Beaumont, Alta. and Kyle Anderson of Edmonton.
Lissoy, winning her Northlands Filly Pace elim
B.C. shipper Jet To The Beach -- also in the care of the Hoerdt stable with Mike Hennessy doing the catch-driving -- used a three-hole-trip to get second prize. The favourite No Guarantees (Bill Tainsh), another B.C. invader, was flushed from the pocket and tried to wear down Lissoy but hung a bit and faded to third. Credit The Shark (Keith Clark) was fourth to nail down the last spot in the final. Hoerdt will be a busy man on Saturday night as he will be represented by four horses in the rich Filly Pace final. Hoerdt won this race last year with Thats Extra, a daughter of Allamerican Native.
The complete field for the 2016 Northlands Filly Pace:
1. Somewhere A Place (Serge Masse) -5-2
2. Credit The Shark (Keith Clark) - 12-1
3. Lissoy (Kelly Hoerdt) -3-1
4. Brighten Your Life (Phil Giesbrecht) - 8-1
5. Monstrous (J.F. Gagne) - 4-1
6. Lucky Lucka (Brandon Campbell) - 15-1
7. Jet To The Beach (Mike Hennessy) - 7-2
8. No Guarantees (Bill Tainsh) - 6-1
The Western Canada Pacing Derby eliminations for three-year-old colts and geldings took place last Saturday also in a pair of $10,000 eliminations with the top four finishers from each elimination getting a spot behind the gate in Saturday’s final. A favourite won the first elimination while a longshot won the other.
Appellate, winning his Western Canada Pacing Derby elim
Punters had it right making Appellate the race favourite for Hall of Fame trainer/driver Keith Clark, who won his elimination in a snappy 1:55.4. The three-year-old son of Western Terror-Dropitlikeitshot converted an early three-hole trip to wear down the early leader Credit Risk (Tainsh) through quick splits of :28.3 and :58.1. Appellate was in charge at the three-quarter pole and held off to win by a half-length over Blue Star Maverick (Hennessy) while Duke It Out (Nathan Sobey) nailed down show dough and Tolly Ho (Kim Dressler) grabbed fourth spot. Appellate, who did not see any racing action as a two-year-old, had some problems staying flat earlier this summer but the WCPD elim win improved his 2016 record to 8-7-2 from 31 starts for Clark and co-owner Robert Jones of Stony Plain, Alta. He has banked $46,620 so far for his connections.
Chalk Player picked a good day to pop with his second win of 2016 from 21 starts and longshot players were rewarded when he sprang the upset in the second elimination at a healthy 14-1 odds for driver Brandon Campbell.
Chalk Player, winning his Western Canada Pacing Derby elim
Settled in seventh place early in the race, the son of Camluck-Odds On Lassomyhrt got away seventh while he watched Its Eds Idea (Masse) blast to the front-end with suicide splits of :27.2 and :58. Race favourite Wrangler Cash (Hoerdt) used a first-over trip and knocked heads early and often all the way to the three-quarter mark in a rapid in 1:25.1, where Wrangler Cash finally got the lead. However that may have cost him down the lane as his gas tank read empty when Chalk Player attacked him in deep stretch all the way from seventh at the three-quarter pole to win by a scant nose in 1:55. Blue Star Jet (Hennessy) got show dough with Keep Coming (Gerry Hudon) nailing down fourth spot. Sanford Campbell conditions Chalk Player for owner Raymond Henry of Calgary, Alta., who has now banked $52,000 in lifetime earnings.
The complete field for the 2016 Western Canada Pacing Derby:
1. Appellate (Keith Clark) - 2-1
2. Chalk Player (Brandon Campbell) - 6-1
3. Wrangler Cash (Kelly Hoerdt) - 9-2
4. Keep Coming (Gerry Hudon) - 12-1
5. Blue Star Jet (Phil Giesbrecht) - 4-1
4. Blue Star Maverick (Mike Hennessy) - 7-2
7. Tolly Ho (Kim Dressler) - 8-1
8. Duke It Out (Nathan Sobey) - 12-1
The Friday and Saturday cards will both feature nine dashes at Northlands Park Racetrack and Casino, with a first race post time of 6:30 p.m. each day. Both the $70,000 finals of the Northlands Filly Pace (Race 6) and the Western Canada Pacing Derby (Race 7) headline the Saturday evening card. Northlands' 14-day winter meet concludes on December 31.
(A Trot Insider Exclusive by Frank Fontana)