Alexas Jackpot was a wire-to-wire winner in the $34,000 Preferred Pace as Woodbine Racetrack hosted its first live harness racing card of 2017 on Saturday night (January 7).
Leaving from post six, Alexas Jackpot quickly secured the lead off the gate for driver Sylvain Filion and fronted the field of seven through opening panels of :28 and :56.3.
Modern Legend (James MacDonald), the 3-5 favourite after a sub-1:50 victory in his return to the races last month, edged out from fourth nearing the midway mark with Domethatagain (Louis Philippe Roy), parked from a post seven start, gapping his cover. However, Alexas Jackpot stretched his leading margin out to three lengths on the way to three-quarters in 1:24 and kept on going as he headed down the homestretch.
With Modern Legend proving no threat into the lane on this night, Nickle Bag (Trevor Henry) launched from the three-hole and tried to reel in the leader, closing with every stride. However, it was too late as Alexas Jackpot held clear to win by one length in 1:52.1. After trailing throughout, American Virgin (Doug McNair) made late gains to finish third. Prescotts Hope (Phil Hudon) came on for fourth over Modern Legend.
Alexas Jackpot paid $13.60 to win as the 5-1 fourth choice on the toteboard. He earned his second straight victory in the Preferred, having also won the December 23 top class to cap off a five-win campaign in 2016.
Marty Fine trains the Million Dollar Cam-Michelles Jackpot gelding and also shares ownership with Highland Thoroughbred Farm of Inglewood, Ont.
The seven-year-old pacer now sports a career summary of 19-21-25 from 100 starts and almost $440,000 in earnings.
The third race feature marked Woodbine's leading driver and O'Brien Award finalist Filion's first win of the year. Meanwhile, Future Star nominee Louis Philippe Roy was Woodbine's first winner of 2017, also scoring in front-end fashion.
Making his season's debut in the sulky, Roy steered the Rene Allard-trained trotter, Star Photo ($4.40), to a 1:56.4 victory in the evening's opener ahead of the late-closing Kinetic King (Roger Mayotte) and Burnin Money (Phil Hudon). The win was the eight-year-old Classic Photo gelding's fifth in a row, following four straight at Northfield Park.
Both Filion and Roy had driving doubles on the Saturday program, as did O'Brien Award of Horsemanship finalists Travis Cullen and Rick Zeron, along with Ed Hensley.
To view Saturday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Saturday Results - Woodbine Racetrack.