Driver Lorne House sent trotting mare Hally Road down the road to repeat in Sunday's featured Preferred 4 Handicap and join a special Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame guest in the Leamington Raceway winner's circle.

With the inside post advantage, 4-5 favourite Hally Road forged to the front into a :28.2 opening quarter and stole a second-quarter breather with the half clocked in one minute as 14-1 shot Duke Deo (Anthony Hamlin) swept up alongside. Those two trotters raced in tandem on top to three-quarters in 1:29.3, but Hally Road shrugged of the challenger turning for home and won by 1-1/4 lengths over pocket-sitter Toscano Girl (Garrett Rooney) in a two-minute mile. Duke Deo faded to third.

"She's not a bad mare and we had the rail. Since she won on the front last week, it was the same game plan and we executed," said House of his winning strategy. "I just got a nice little breather into her and Tony Hamlin's horse came up nice and easy, and she did the rest of the work, I just had to sit there and not fall off."

Cassidy Schneider trains the seven-year-old Holiday Road-Thousand Miles mare, a homebred for owner Fred Freer of Petrolia, Ont. Hally Road is perfect in two career starts over the Leamington half-mile track and now has eight career wins with earnings of $57,836.

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Hally Road's connections were joined in the winner's circle by Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame track announcer Frank Salive (pictured above, far right), who returned to his hometown for a special guest appearance on Sunday afternoon.

In addition to calling a handful of day's races, Salive met with fans and presented a Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame Hall display and hockey memorabilia to the Leamington minor hockey association to be displayed in the trophy case of the local arena where it all began for the former World-Class Junior A hockey goalie.

"It's a little bit overwhelming," said Salive of his return to the announcer's booth for Leamington's Sunday card. "It's so joyous, so wonderful to have this reason to come back home. All of what I went onto in my hockey career with the Peterborough Petes, broadcasting, harness racing, horse racing, you took Frank out of Leamington but you never took the Leamington out of Frank."

Frank Salive being interviewed Leamington Raceway's track announcer Nathan Bain.

Leamington Raceway also celebrated National Caretaker Appreciation Day on Sunday, recognizing the dedicated individuals who work tirelessly behind the scenes to ensure the success and excitement of harness racing each week. 

To view Sunday's harness racing results, click the following link: Sunday Results - Leamington Raceway.

(Standardbred Canada)