Fresh off a wire-to-wire win in last week’s Open Trot at Charlottetown Driving Park, Dunmore Alpha stayed sharp scoring a victory in Saturday night’s $1,400 top trot, but this time the six-year-old mixed things up using a different strategy

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Instead of gunning for the lead, the son of Black River-Princess Victory settled in third from Post 3 under the guidance of trainer/driver Edward Smallwood. The fan favourite waited patiently as Saulsbrook Balance (Don MacNeill) carved out fractions of :29.4, 1:00 and 1:30.3. At the three-quarters mark, Dunmore Alpha kicked into action and sprinted home in :29.3 to catch the pacesetter. Dunmore Alpha prevailed by a quarter-length in 2:00.4. A C Dream (Walter Cheverie) finished third.

Smallwood also owns Dunmore Alpha, a 24-time winner with earnings totaling $49,196. The win was the bay’s fourth of the season in 13 starts giving him $4,093 in purse earnings on the year.

An accident earlier on the card in the second race saw Gascoigne Lady (Willie Murphy), who was advancing on the outside at the third quarter mark, fall causing interference to Camco Nadenne (Vaughan Doyle) and River Zoe (Robert Chappell). River Zoe subsequently broke stride and did not finish the race.

Murphy booked off his remaining drives on the card.

All horses and drivers walked away from the mishap with no serious injuries.

To view Saturday’s harness racing results, click here.