Docsphillycheese went into the Monday (Jan. 15) evening card at The Raceway at the Western Fair District in only his second career Preferred Pace appearance and he returned as an upset victor in the $11,000 feature.
As the wings of the car drew away, favoured P L Oliver (Colin Kelly) was the first to take command of the tempo. Docsphillycheese (Alfie Carroll) landed in fifth through the opening panel in :29.4. After that split, Carroll pulled his right line to follow a second-over trip behind Toronto (Ed Hensley). En route to the half in 1:00.1, Docsphillycheese moved over one more to sweep by his cover three-wide. The Brittany Kennedy trainee met the leader after the three-quarters, clicked in 1:30.1, and the pair matched strides in the lane. At the wire, Docsphillycheese pulled ahead to win by a quarter of a length in 2:00.2. P L Oliver finished second and Heza Handy Man (Michael Horner) closed sharply from the outside to finish third by a half length.
Kennedy co-owns the five-year-old son of Betterthancheddar and the Mach Three mare Flight Of An Angel with Moneyclip Racing. Docsphillycheese has made 60 career trips to the racetrack, returning as a winner on 17 occasions. Bred by his owners, the bay horse pushed his earnings beyond the six-figure mark at $101,731 banked. As the 4-1 third choice in his second attempt at the feature, he returned $9 to his backers.
To view Monday's harness racing results, click the following link: Monday Results - The Raceway at the Western Fair District.
(Standardbred Canada)