Rideau Feature Winners Lead All The Way
Ufdragons Rocket ($2.10) and Heres The Magic ($6.30) scored front-end victories out of post five in their respective Winners Over Handicap divisions on Sunday night (March 26) at Rideau Carleton Raceway.
Ufdragons Rocket, the 1-9 favourite in the $6,500 top pacing class, made the lead early on for driver Louis-Philippe Roy and never looked back through fractions of :28.4, :57.2 and 1:25.2 over the 'good' track. The eight-year-old Dragon Again gelding expanded his leading margin to four lengths in the stretch before hitting the wire in 1:53.3. The Love Bug (Richard Simard) chased the winner home from the pocket, while third prize went to Solid Performance (Guy Gagnon).
The win was Ufdragons Rocker's second (consecutive) from three starts racing from the Yves Tessier stable since being claimed on March 4 at Woodbine Racetrack for $25,000 by Francois Morin of Beauceville, Que.
Heres The Magic, the 2-1 second choice in the $6,800 trotting division, shot out to an early three-length lead during a 28-second opener for Richard Simard with Raising Richard (Ted McDonald) moving up into the gaping two-hole for :58 and 1:27.2 middle splits before offering up a final stretch challenge. However, Heres The Magic held on to win over that foe by a neck in 1:57.3. What A Rush (Brett MacDonald) closed from the backfield to finish within two lengths of the top pair.
Owned by trainer Blake Curran and Jason Jamieson of Perth, Ont., the eight-year-old gelded son of Kadabra has hit the board in all five of his 2017 starts, with the win being his second in this class.
Ufdragons Rocket and Heres The Magic have each won 29 races lifetime.
To view Sunday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Sunday Results - Rideau Carleton Raceway.