Artic Byrd rallied past the heavily-favoured De Vin Girl to score a win in Thursday’s $8,000 feature race at Vernon Downs.

De Vin Girl (Rick Plano) was sent off at 1-9 by the bettors and led throughout the first three-quarters of a mile, setting solid fractions of :26.4, :55.1 and 1:23.4. However, Artic Byrd (Truman Gale) managed to stay right with De Vin Girl during the early part of the race and was in prime position to overtake the leader as the field entered the stretch. Artic Byrd produced a sustained drive through the stretch and made the lead with an eighth of a mile remaining, eventually winning in a final time of 1:52. De Vins Girl was second, with Upfront Secret finishing third.

Artic Byrd, a six-year-old daughter of Art Major-Tundra Bird, now has a two-race win streak at Vernon Downs. She is owned by Donn Lewandrowski and Gail Farrell of Poland, New York. Truman Gale doubles as the trainer.

The win in the feature race was part of an excellent start to the program for driver Truman Gale. He won the first race with Campanile Hanover in gate-to-wire fashion in 1:52.4 and followed that with the win in the feature. Gale then completed the hat trick with favoured Blue Skies Craze in the third race, winning in 2:00.1.

Jimmy Whittemore also picked up a win on Thursday night with That's My Dream in the sixth race to continue his march to 1,000 lifetime victories. Whittemore currently has 994 wins for his career.

(Vernon Downs)