Alberta Diamond Double For Giesbrecht
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It's a good problem to have, but driver Phil Giesbrecht will have a decision to make for the Alberta Diamond Final after winning two of the three eliminations on Saturday (July 14) at Century Downs.
Giesbrecht guided both True Horizon and Born A Dragon to victory, with the third ABSS elimination going to Custard Lite. All three of the divisions were close contests, with the largest win margin at a half-length.
Custard Lite captured the first Alberta Diamond elimination, rebounding from an off-the-board finish in the Meridian Farms Breeders Stake. Driver Paul Davies confidently pressured pacesetter Roaring Home (Bobby Clark) through the middle half of the mile and then bottomed out the field, opening up a five-length by the head of the lane. That daylight was enough to get under the wire a neck ahead of Maid In Alberta (Brandon Campbell) in 1:57.3, with My Day (David Kelly) nabbing show dough.
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Trained by Gord Abbott for Lorne Duffield and Rod Hennessy, Custard Lite (Custard The Dragon - Enlightened One) now sports a 4-4-1 summary from 13 seasonal starts and $61,405 in earnings.
Perhaps the most impressive of the three elim winners, True Horizon paced the mile of her life to win the second Diamond elim. Parked for the first half of the mile, True Horizon finally cleared to the lead at the :57 half and then held off a persistent Nice Aint My Color (Jamie Gray) after appearing to be passed in deep stretch to prevail by a neck in a lifetime best 1:56.4. Hot Kiss (Kelly Hoerdt) completed the triactor.
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True Horizon (Vertical Horizon - The Three Of Us) is trained by Gerry Hudon for wife Monica and co-owner Don McDougall. The win was the third of her sophomore campaign and sixth lifetime, pushing purses to $33,506.
Born A Dragon provided both sire Custard The Dragon and driver Giesbrecht with a 'Diamond-double' winning the third and final elim. Leaving strongest for position, Born A Dragon yielded early to stablemate and public choice Ginger Beer (Bobby Clark) and enjoyed a pocket ride into the head of the stretch. Giesbrecht right-lined his charge turning for home and the tandem muscled past for a half-length score in 1:57.4. Blue Blew On By (Campbell) finished third ahead of Bearcat Josi (Gray) to complete the field for next week's Alberta Diamond Final.
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Hall of Famer Keith Clark trains and co-owns Born A Dragon (Custard The Dragon - Barossa) along with John Fowlis. Unraced at two, Born A Dragon sports a 4-3-1 summary from 10 seasonal starts and $16,400 in earnings.
The top three finishers from each elimination advance to the $40,000A Alberta Diamond Final on Saturday, July 21.
If the chart line for the $9,000 Fillies & Mares Open Pace prompts a double take, rest assured it's accurate: Tajmeallover did in fact set the tempo. In fact, over the course of her 77-start career prior to Saturday she has only been on top of the field at the half-mile point six times and only fronted the field at each fraction twice. Each time she's won, and that streak continued today.
With trainer and co-owner J.F. Gagne at the controls, Tajmeallover played catch-me-if-you-can with her five rivals en route to a confident two-length 1:55.2 score over American Passion (Campbell), who picked off You name It (Gary Clark) late for place.
Tajmeallover (Tajma Hall - Watch Over Me) notched her second win of the season to push her total to 44 lifetime along with nearly $316,000 in purses for owners Gagne, Peter Van Seggelen, Carl Warnaar and Tapron Holdings Ltd.
To view the charted lines from Century's Saturday card of harness racing, click the following link: Saturday Results - Century Downs.
(Giesbrecht headshot courtesy Century Downs)