Camaes Fellow persevered by a head over Wazzup Wazzup for the second week in a row to take the $34,000 Preferred Pace while Carmen Auciello had a training triple during the 2015 opening card at Woodbine Racetrack on Saturday night.
Jonathan Drury sent Auciello and Stephen Klunowski's Camaes Fellow around early leaver Calgary Seelster (Doug McNair) heading to the first turn and reached the quarter pole in :26.4 over the sloppy track. The seven-year-old Mach Three gelding continued to lead the field, which was scratched down to six with Modern Legend out, through middle splits of :56.2 and 1:24.2. As they passed the third quarter mark, Wazzup Wazzup (Randy Waples) launched his attack on the pacesetter and those two took off down the lane in a heated battle to the wire with Camaes Fellow hanging on for the 1:52.1 triumph. Calgary Seelster finished seven and a half lengths behind in third. Machal Jordan (Roger Mayotte) advanced from the back of the pack to finish fourth while 6-5 favourite Nickle Bag (Trevor Henry) earned the final paycheque in fifth.
Coming off a career-year in 2014 during which he was among the top 10 trainers in Canada, Auciello kicked off the night winning the opener with Bugger Bruiser ($11.80), who was driven by Anthony MacDonald. He later teamed up with Drury to sweep the Late Daily Double with Camaes Fellow ($11.40) in the 11th race feature and Windsong Jacoba ($8.10) in the finale.
Auciello's stable won 176 races last year and over $2.6 million in purses. The Stouffville, Ont. horseman earned just over $1 million at Woodbine alone to make him the track's leading money winner.
To view Saturday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Saturday Results - Woodbine Racetrack.