It was a well-deserved victory for Well Did, who throttled his rivals by open lengths in the opening leg of the Gary "Shack" Smith Memorial Series on Saturday (May 28) at Exhibition Park Raceway.

With trainer-driver Paul Langille at the controls, Well Did ($3.90) forged to the front from his outside post five starting spot and cleared Arrived Late (Taylor Doyle) just before the :29.2 opening quarter. The lead was never in question after that as Well Did powered through fractions of :59.2 and 1:29.3 before opening up some serious daylight in that final stanza. Coming home in :31.2, Well Did finished more than seven lengths the best, with the mile timed in 2:01 over the track listed as good. Bugger Max (Mark Haig) and Joes Beauty (Stephen Mason) completed the top three.

Owned by the Well Did Horse Owners Club of Lower Onslow, N.S., Well Did (Well Said-Marnie Hall) now sports 44 wins lifetime with a 44-28-32 summary from 258 lifetime starts and close to $180,000 in earnings.

Father Ofthe Year ($4.40) took advantage of his rail starting spot in the $2,500 Winners Over Pace and connected for his first win of the year.

Mike Downey guided the nine-year-old to his first win since September 2020, a wire-to-wire performance in 2:01.3. Montrose Hope rallied from the pocket for driver John Davidson but that bid was three parts of a length too short. Favoured Frontier Cruise (Haig) finished third in his bid for a third straight top class score.

Trained by Ellen Stevenson for Dr. Mitchell Downey of Saint John, N.B., Father Ofthe Year (Royal Mattjesty - Shes Determined) now sports 18 wins and a 18-16-4 summary from 50 career starts and exactly $43,000 in earnings.

For results from Saturday's card, click the following link: Saturday Results - Exhibition Park Raceway.