Fraser Downs' biggest weekend of harness racing in 2014 kicked off with the $200,000 British Columbia Sires Stakes Finals on Friday night.

A BCSS champion at two, sophomore pacing filly Run And Tell defended her divisional title with a 1:57.4 score in the $75,000 final for trainer Debra McCarthy and owner/breeder Mark Anderson of Willows, California.

Driver Kevin Anderson sent the Power Of Art-Muddy Waters filly from third to first after a :28.4 opening panel and cruised through middle splits of :58.1 and 1:28.4 before holding off pocket-sitter T Squared (Rick White) in the passing lane by a neck for her first win this year. Run And Tell paid $3.30 to win as the favourite. Early leaver Go To The Windows (Dennis Johnston) finished over two lengths behind in third.

Run And Tell banked $67,106 while posting a near-perfect seven-for-eight freshman campaign, which included a sweep of the Betty Millbank B.C. Breeders Stakes in addition to her first BCSS win.

Another Anderson-bred sophomore was in the spotlight on Friday, providing Jim Marino with his biggest of five winning drives on the night in the matching $75,000 final for colts and geldings. Favourite Cold Finger prevailed between horses in the stretch for a 1:58 career-best victory.

The lightly raced Power Of Art-Cool Cam Girl gelding joined the Ty O'Neill stable earlier this month for new owner Bryan Buchanan of Surrey, B.C. and earned just his second career win.

Kooteney Harper (Serge Masse) established the lead over insider Koko Taylor (Bill Davis) and Cold Finger, posting opening fractions of :28.1 and :59.2. Marino made his move with Cold Finger en route to the 1:28.3 third quarter mark and rolled up alongside the leader with Starrbucks Lildude (Scott Knight) following his cover and fanning wide off the final turn. Down the stretch, Cold Finger pulled ahead in the three-way dash for the cash while Kootenay Harper edged out Starrbucks Lildude in a photo for second-place honours.

Cold Finger paid $4.20 to win.

Marino also swept the $25,000 four-year-old stake finals with his own trainee Shales Griz and Randy Rutledge's Im Tu Die For.

Shales Griz pulled off a 7-1 upset in the horse and gelding final after closing from last in a short, four-horse field up the passing lane. The Warrawee Hero-Red Star Madeline gelding established a new lifetime mark of 1:57.1 as he defeated the popular pacesetter, Why We Were Chosen (Serge Masse), by three-quarters of a length. The five-time career winner is owned and bred by Shelley Eng of Merritt, B.C. One Last Shot (Kevin Anderson) finished over two lengths behind in third. He returned $17.10 to his backers.

Im Tu Die For also lowered her lifetime record in the mares final as she sprinted by the leading Yanotherhos (Keith Clark) down the stretch for the 1:55 triumph. The race favourite leap-frogged around the pocket-sitting Hurts So Bad (Bill Davis) down the backstretch before unleashing a :28.3 final frame to prevail over Yanotherhos by one and a half lengths in a two-horse breakaway. Alittleforplace (Serge Masses) finished nearly eight lengths behind in third. The Allamerican Cobalt-Gypsy Soul mare, who now has seven career wins to her credit, was acquired by Rutledge and partner Jennifer Dodsworth, both of Aldergrove, B.C., just last month. She returned $3.90 to win.

Marino also drove Bill Davis trainee Thunder Noise to a narrow win over his more popular stablemate, Big N Bad, in the $15,000 Open, returning $19.90 for the upset. The winning time was 1:53.4. The top two finishers are both owned by Aldergrove's J J J Stables.

Marino closed out the 11-race card with one final victory aboard Robert Merschback's streaking sophomore gelding, Just Hank, who prevailed by a nose in 1:56.4.

The action continues at Fraser Downs on Saturday afternoon with the Western Regional Driving Championship, which will determine the two drivers that will represent Western Canada in the National Driving Championship this summer. First race post time for the meet-closing card is 12:45 p.m. (PST).

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