The margin of victory wasn’t very big, but the effort certainly was for Kindly Poet in this week’s edition of the $50,000 Open Pace at Woodbine Racetrack
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The Murray Brethour trainee has been putting up some very impressive numbers in recent weeks, and it was more of the same in Sunday afternoon’s assignment.
Sylvain Filion got away fourth with Kindly Poet while last week’s Open winner, Dali, front-stepped the five-pack of pacers to the quarter pole in :26.3. Dali was in the process of backing off the pace in the second quarter when Filion fired his charge to the outside as the field zipped by the three-eighths pole. In a matter of strides Kindly Poet was eyeballing Dali, and they raced as a team past the mid-way point in a 56-second clip.
Kindly Poet was released to the top without much of a tussle, and he proceeded to roll the compact group to the three-quarter station in 1:24.2. Dali angled back out for the drive at the head of the lane and Keystone Horatio snuck up the pylons late, but their bids to haul down the leader fell just a bit short. Kindly Poet’s final quarter speed earned him the head decision over Keystone Horatio in 1:51.2. Race favourite Dali was third.
Sent off as the 2-1 second choice in the wagering, Kindly Poet registered his second victory of the season and the fifth in his last seven assignments. The 25-time winner, who has stashed away $75,000 this year and more than $589,000 to date, is owned by Murray Brethour, Stephen Scarff, Donald Varcoe and Dan Sarafian.
To view Sunday’s results, click here.