Mercedes scored his first victory of the Century Downs meet on Saturday, April 25, avenging previous defeats to Shark Week and Outlaw Game On with an authoritative front-end performance in the $16,000 Preferred Pace.

Mercedes was fourth fastest away from post six for Brandon Campbell but hustled into the first turn to reach past Rum N Custard (Kelly Hoerdt) for the lead before the quarter in :28.3. Midnight Mover (James Jungquist) was the first horse underway, scurrying out of the six-hole in front of the stands to reach even terms with the leader at the half in :58.2. After going head-to-head down the backstretch, Mercedes edged away by a length at three-quarters in 1:27, and he shrugged off the attacker on the final turn. Rum N Custard had no extra from the pocket, and Mercedes rolled home a one-length winner in 1:55.2 over a track rated “good” with a two-second variant. Outlaw Game On (Logan Gillis) went up the pylons for third.

Mercedes extended his streak of top-three finishes to 16 while improving his seasonal record to 3-0-2 from five starts. The six-year-old son of All Bets Off-Skade has amassed 24 wins and $178,216 in earnings from 47 lifetime starts. Campbell trains the stallion for Raymond Henry of Calgary, Alta. The winner returned $6.40.

Trainer Rebecca Kanak took down three of the day’s 10 races. The conditioner, now in a three-way tie for the lead in the standings with Campbell and Mathew Howlett, scored with Betterontherox ($3.30), Tahuya Velocious ($4.30) and Outlaw Playmymovie ($10.40). She has eight wins at Century Downs this year and is 25-for-96 overall, a win rate of 26 per cent.

To view Saturday’s harness racing results, click the following link: Saturday Results - Century Downs.

(Standardbred Canada)