Veteran gelding Hopetobefirst continued his winning ways at The Raceway at the Western Fair District, collecting another victory when taking the $9,000 featured pace on Tuesday (Jan. 18).
Off the 1-5 favourite, Hopetobefirst fired from post 2 and pocketed post-6 leaver Good And Sweet to a :28.2 first quarter. The 14-year-old Sagebrush gelding cruised under minimal pressure as Justa Bandit mounted a brief first-over bid into a :59.1 half before making a retreat to the backside, towering the backfield to three-quarters. With most the field re-navigating course, Good And Sweet took a shot out of the pocket by three-quarters in 1:28.2 but Hopetobefirst quickly shut her down, spinning three lengths in front off the corner and striding to the finish to beat a resurgent Good And Sweet by 1-3/4 lengths in 1:57.4. Bettors Victory finished third and Maintenance Man rallied for fourth.
Owned and trained by Stacey Currie, Hopetobefirst won his 63rd race from 430 starts, pushing his earnings to $411,338. He paid $2.40 to win.
To view Tuesday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Tuesday Results - The Raceway at the Western Fair District.