A white-hot trotter kept an impressive winning streak intact, a cagey reinsman enjoyed a banner night and a hard-knocking gelding posted his second consecutive victory while knocking off one of the hottest horses
in harness racing – and it all happened at Woodbine Racetrack on Saturday evening.
Charlie Is A Joker collected his ninth straight victory for veteran trainer Per Henriksen, and the four-year-old son of Angus Hall-Keystone Caprice did it the tough way.
With Sylvain Filion at the controls, the gelding was forced to go first-over for an extended period before digging in for all he was worth in deep stretch to haul down the tempo-setting Order By Roosevelt in a career-best clocking of 1:55.3.
The homebred now boasts a 12-for-14 record for owners Tom and Elizabeth Rankin of St. Catherines, ON. Despite being unraced as a rookie, the productive performer has banked $79,307 in his career.
Peenie played giant killer in Saturday’s $50,000 Open Pace after knocking off a streaking Sparky Mark, who saw his seven-race winning streak come to a grinding halt.
Good Bad Lucky blasted out from the rail and parked Sparky Mark to the quarter pole in :27.1, and shortly after reaching that marker Sparky Mark made a brief break in stride. He quickly reset and eventually worked his way to the position of command. Sparky Mark led the field to the half in :55 before being pressed by Reibercrombie to the three-quarter pole in 1:23.3. Peenie, in the meantime, was lurking third-over for driver Rick Zeron. Zeron split through horses in deep stretch, and Peenie’s :27.4 closing quarter was enough to earn him the win by a half-length margin over Brave Alex Semalu in a time of 1:52.1. Upfront Hoosierboy finished third, while Sparky Mark faded to be a disappointing fourth.
Sent off at odds of 12-1, the seven-year-old son of Real Artist-Tre Cress won for the 38th time in his career. The career winner of $516,988 is owned by trainer Colin Johnson of Le Gardeur and Ecurie JGV Enrg of Laval, QC.
The win with Peenie was one of the five trips to victory lane on the 13-race card for veteran teamster Rick Zeron.
The career winner of 7,456 races and purse monies in excess of $95 million also clicked with Rate Exchange (1:56), Kindly Poet (1:52.3), Mystician (1:51.4) and Midnite Romp (1:52.2).
To view results for Saturday's card of harness racing, click the following link: Saturday Results – Woodbine Racetrack.