On a card that featured three stakes events, there were twice as many storylines after a lovely afternoon of harness racing at The Loop on Saturday, Sept. 27.

Let's start with the stakes races. Van Goghing Fast ($4.20; pictured above) delivered as the public choice in the $12,968 MSSBA Golden Boy Stakes Final for three-year-old male pacers. After sitting the pocket through fractions of :29.3 and :59.3, Van Goghing Fast and driver Marc Fillion collared pacesetter Crimsons Case (Cory Manning) through a 1:30.4 third station and then sprinted away to win by nearly three lengths in 2:02.3. Austins Bud (Michel Rey) closed for second ahead of Crimsons Case.

Fillion bred, owns and trains Van Goghing Fast, a three-year-old gelded son of Trust The Artist - Soft And Dry with a 6-5-2 summary from 19 starts this year and $34,616 in earnings.

Pipers Luna ($2.10) made every call a winning one in the $11,954 MSSBA Silk Lace Final for three-year-old pacing fillies, towing driver Dean Rey to a four-length tally in 2:01.3 over Smokinintheboysroom (Fillion) and Stefs Inheritance (Paula Mason).

A daughter of Im The Pied Piper - Hammers Rainbow, Pipers Luna now boasts a 7-1-0 record from eight career appearances and $38,970 in earnings for owner Vince Sotheran and co-owner, trainer and breeder Lorraine Rey.

Just two two-year-olds lined up in the $10,200 Juvenile Stakes Final, with Libbys Delight ($4.30) and Kirk Rogers besting Justcruiseonbye (Manning) by more than five lengths with the mile timed in 2:07.

That win is the maiden-breaker for Libbys Delight, a daughter of Track Master D - Minettas Liberty owned and trainer by Virden's Aurel Vodon.

From stakes to sets of wins. Two trainers tripled on the Saturday 10-dash card. Clayton Braybrook picked up the first three-pack of the day thanks to Irish Hawk (2:07.4; $2.80) in the second race, Tuff As Buff (2:00.4; $5.80) in the seventh and  Tami Blue — the 11-1 upsetter in the $6,500 Open Pace, winning by 3-1/2 lengths over stablemate Appoggiatura (Manning) and favoured Nonversation (Richard Remillard) in a time of 2:00.1.

Braybrook, who also drove all three of his winners, holds the papers on Tami Blue, an 11-year-old daughter of Blue Burner - Jomars Tami with 18 career wins and $85,938. The mare returned $25.10 to win.

There is one trainer at The Loop this year with more wins than Braybrook and his 11 tallies. That's 17-time winner Sherri Mason, who matched Braybrook's output with a triple of her own. She started her triple in the fourth race with Acquired Taste (2:00.4; $8.60) and ended her triple with Miss Baby (2:03.3; $10.90) in the ninth. Husband Darryl Mason engineered both of those scores.

The win in the middle meant more to Team Mason as Somepeopleneedtold (2:02.1; $6.60) prevailed over stablemate Hurry Home by three parts of length for driver Aaron Mason — son of Darryl and Sherri — for his first career driving victory.

Mason, 22, picked up his first win in just his sixth career start.

Handle on the day was $34,302, a single-day high for the Manitoba oval. For the full results from the Saturday card of harness racing in Winnipeg, click the following link: Saturday Results - The Loop.

(Standardbred Canada)