On a warm Thursday night with temperatures in the 20s and Rosecroft horsemen upgrading their stock, it was no surprise that the card on March 23 turned out the way it did. Several amazing finishes with dramatic stretch drives produced nine races where the winner won by less than a length and some that were super tight photos. The most dramatic came in Rosecroft’s $17,000 Preferred Pace.

Stag Party, a winner of almost $1 million lifetime, continued his return to the racetrack with a win in a lifetime best 1:50.2, edging last week’s winner Leonards Legacy by the slimmest of margins. Fantastic Voyage and Sea Of Life finished third in a dead heat.

Trae Porter sent Leonards Legacy to the lead in :25.1 and cut subsequent fractions of :54.4 and 1:22.2, fighting off a game first-over challenge from Fantastic Voyage and Jared Moyer. In the final sixteenth of the mile, driver Jonathan Ahle put Stag Party in position up the rail to prevail, sprinting the last quarter in :27.4.

It was the second win of the year for the seven-year-old Stag Party (Bettors Delight - My Lady Day). The new mark erased his previous best of 1:50.4 set at age two. That year he won the O’Brien Award as Canada’s top two-year-old pacing colt. He has been standing in Ontario as a stud, and his first foals are of racing age this year. He is owned by Let It Ride Stables, Bottom Line Racing, Hutt Racing Stable and West Wins Stable, and is conditioned by Rosecroft’s leading trainer, Michael Hall.

Precision Bluechip, another son of Bettors Delight, had been winless in 2023 until ripping off a spectacular 1:51 score for driver Russell Foster and trainer Courtney Brooks. Leaving from post two, Foster set sail with fractions of :25.4, :54.3 and 1:22.1, while holding off Starship’s first-over bid and Cant Beach That closing at the wire, to win by a half-length. It was Precision Bluechip’s 34th career win in 144 starts.

Jason Thompson won three times on the night, while Jonathan Roberts, Frank Milby, Jared Moyer and Foster all won twice. Hall had a training triple while Thomas Lord won twice.

(Rosecroft Raceway)