The talk of the toteboard in the $18,000 Open Trot on Sunday (Jan. 1) was heavily favoured Mission Accepted. But when the smoke cleared, Light Blue Movers got a perfect trip and scored an upset victory.
After an early four-wide tussle through the first turn, Magical Muscle Man made the lead entering the backstretch. Light Blue Movers bided his time and took position in second as they approached the quarter in :27.2.
Moving into the stretch the first time, Kurt Sugg got a second-quarter breather with Magical Muscle Man getting to the half in :56.3.
Heading to three-quarters, the field bunched up with Predator And Prey and Magical Muscle Man matching strides in 1:25.1. Mission Accepted, who was relegated to fifth in the early going, tried to advance four wide off the last turn, but didn’t have enough as Light Blue Movers came up the passing lane to win by a length in 1:54.4. Predator And Prey finished a game second and Magical Muscle Man was third.
Light Blue Movers is owned by Timothy Poitinger and has now amassed $135,544 in career earnings. He is trained by Bill Rhoades, who is chasing his 1,000th career training win; the victory in the Open Trot was his 997th win. Aaron Merriman piloted the winner.
In the $18,000 co-featured Open Pace, Hellabalou gathered himself after an early miscue in the first turn to win in 1:50.2.
Following the favourite’s misstep, Bettor Than Spring grabbed the lead, but that lead was short-lived as Hellabalou recovered and cleared at the quarter in :26.2. Coming to the half, General Idea took his shot at Hellabalou with Rockn Motion in tow.
After hitting the half in :54.2, Ronnie Wrenn Jr. put the pedal down, opening by 2-1/2 lengths moving into the backstretch. He was an easy leader to three-quarters in 1:21.3. His closest pursuer General Idea had nothing left in the tank to narrow the margin to the former Adios champion, who won easily by two lengths over longshot General Idea and a hard-closing Dancin Dragon.
With the victory, Hellabalou now has 17 career wins in 48 starts for owners Burke Racing Stable LLC, Eric Good, Weaver Bruscemi and Larry Karr. The win brings his career earnings to $523,094.
Earlier in the program, trainer-driver James Day scored his first driving win. It came aboard Mancino. Day made the front with Mancino and never gave up the lead winning in wire-to-wire fashion in 1:54.1.
Live racing continues on Tuesday (Jan. 3) with a first post of 6 p.m. (EST).
(Northfield Park)