Lorne House reached home a winner five times on the 11-race card at Hiawatha Horse Park on Saturday, July 4, shooting into sole possession of the lead in a competitive race for the driving title.

House dominated each end of the card with sweeps of both the early and late doubles. He marched his own Wicked Plan ($4.70) three-wide from third to the lead on the final turn in the opener, and the three-year-old gelding drew off to a 1:57.2 score for owner David Omicioli of Macomb, Mich. The reinsman won again from the three-hole in the second race, securing that seat for Stumbleandstagger ($3.40) from post eight before pulling him uncovered down the backstretch to battle past the pacesetter and win going away in 1:56. Richard Griffiths of Thorndale, Ont. trains the sophomore gelding and co-owns him with Bradley Johnson of London, Ont.

House’s mid-card win came with Snake Eyes Hanover ($7) from the Melissa Loyer barn in the seventh race. After stepping around stalled cover twice, the six-year-old mare kicked home to a 1:56.4 score. Loyer provided another winner to House in the 10th race as her eight-year-old gelding Bayfield Beach ($3.20) had enough late pace from the pocket to prevail in 1:53.4. The trainer owns both Snake Eyes Hanover and Bayfield Beach. House then completed bookend training wins and his driving quintuple as his three-year-old miss Red Beach One ($3.20) romped in the finale with a 1:54.4 victory for Omicioli and co-owner Zach Kassian of Windsor, Ont. He also finished second three times and third once on the evening for a UDR of .636.

House now leads the drivers' standings by five wins after entering the card tied with Robert Doyle a win ahead of Garrett Rooney. With those rivals blanked on Saturday, the leaderboard now reads House (19)-Doyle (14)-Rooney (13). The Dutton, Ont.-based sulkysitter has won 73 races across all tracks in 482 drives this season after posting his best win total since 2015 last year.

To view Saturday’s harness racing results, click the following link: Saturday Results - Hiawatha Horse Park.

(Standardbred Canada)