Maintaining a strong pace throughout, Ideal Perception cruised to victory in the $12,000 Preferred Handicap Pace on Tuesday, Jan. 28 at The Raceway at Western Fair District.
The race was action-packed from the start, with the field four-wide battling for the lead into the opening turn. Ideal Perception and driver Anthony Haughan proved to be the strongest, securing the front and never relinquishing it. They set solid fractions of :27.3, :58, and 1:27.1, cruising wire-to-wire to a one-length victory in 1:57.3. The winning ticket paid $8.40.
Drinkin Buddy (Sam Fillion) mounted a late surge to claim second, while Lord Anthony (Tyler Borth) rounded out the top three.
The eight-year-old Ideal Perception is trained by Anthony Beaton and owned by Lisa Lefort of Waterdown, Ont. With this victory, the son of American Ideal - Southwind Siren has 34 career wins, increasing his lifetime purse earnings to $413,949.
Earlier on the card, Western Fair recognized trainer Jason Libby for reaching $5 million in lifetime earnings. He reached the plateau in Tuesday evening's sixth race with pacer Mach In Time in rein to Tyler Borth.
To view Tuesday's harness racing results, click the following link: Tuesday Results - Western Fair Raceway.
(Standardbred Canada)