Phil Giesbrecht put on a driving clinic on Friday, June 26 at Century Downs, winning six of the evening's 11 races, including the $15,000 Fillies & Mares Preferred Pace with Georgia Hanover.

A first-time Preferred winner, four-year-old mare Georgia Hanover followed the cue of her veteran stablemate Stash The Cookies, who has maintained a longtime presence in Alberta's top distaff pacing ranks while accumulating 50 career wins. Georgia Hanover landed in the pocket behind her fellow Chris Lancaster trainee, driven by Brandon Campbell, through fractions of :27.4, :57.1 and 1:25 before launching from the pocket turning for home and reaching up just in time to score in 1:54.1. Grey Sea and John Abbott rallied from the back off stalled cover to finish third, 1-3/4 lengths behind the Lancaster ladies. 

Lancaster owns Georgia Hanover and the Captaintreacherous-Get Lucky mare now has eight career wins (two this year) from 27 starts with nearly $75,000 in purse earnings. Georgia Hanover, favoured at 8-5 odds, paid $5.20 to win.

Giesbrecht won back-to-back races for Lancaster with the maiden-breaking three-year-old gelding Dayo Dayo ($2.30) following up on the fifth race feature win and making it three in a row for the reinsman, who also scored earlier with the Rebecca Kanak-trained claimer Pullaway Ace ($2.30) in an 8-3/4-length romp. 

Giesbrecht also swept the early Daily Double with the maiden-breaking three-year-old filly Jaba Dabba Doo ($4.10), from the Justin Currie stable, and two-time winning sophomore colt Tariff Threat ($9.70), trained by Jacque Lambert. 

His final victory was in the ninth race with pacing mare Bewitched ($3.50), who took a new lifetime mark of 1:55 while winning her fourth in a row for conditioner Brinsley Brooking Lutz.

With his six successful steers, Giesbrecht boosted his seasonal win total to 58 and lifetime tally to 1,564. He's earned 37 of his wins this year at Century Downs, where he currently ranks third in the driver standings behind Mike Hennessy and Brandon Campbell. The Fort Saskatchewan, Alta. reinsman, who posted his third consecutive million-dollar season in 2025, will be competing in the National Driving Championship next month in Ontario after securing his second Western Regional Driving Championship title in May.

Friday's card included a $12,000 Preferred 2 Handicap Pace, won by Hands Off Harry and trainer/driver Nathan Sobey, overcoming early interference and defeating pacesetter Rum N Custard (Kelly Hoerdt) by half a length in 1:54.2.

The 1-2 favourite Midnight Mover (Drew Campbell) protected his inside position off the gate with Hands Off Harry taking a two-hole tuck and Rum N Custard parked and forced thee-wide when the leader made break in the turn near the :27.1 quarter marker. Rum N Custard got around the breaker to the top ahead of Hands Off Harry and led through a cautionary second panel, reaching the half in :57.4. Meanwhile, Itll Be Fine (Logan Gillis) was hung out after the commotion with Key Dragon (Brandon Campbell) making a three-wide move from behind. Those outside rivals were unable to reach Rum N Custard though as he rolled to three-quarters in 1:25.3, but Hands Off Harry eventually did, snatching the win via a passing lane plunge by half a length. Itll Be Fine held on gamely for third.

Last year's Western Canada Pacing Derby champion also picked up his first Preferred-level victory. Climbing up in class off a victory, he was the 5-2 second choice and paid $7.60 to win.

Owned by Sobey Racing Inc. of Sturgeon County, Alta., the four-year-old All Bets Off-Hands Off Hanover gelding earned his third win of the season from 11 starts. He now boasts 11 career wins with seven seconds from 27 starts with more than $170,000 in the bank. 

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

(Standardbred Canada)