Last at the third-quarter mark, Catch The Dream stormed home to prevail in a blanket finish in Friday's featured $34,000 Preferred Trot at Woodbine Racetrack.
Driven by James MacDonald, Catch The Dream defeated trotting mare Bags For All by a head in 1:54.1 with Damfoolrmillionair half a length behind. Millionaire trotter Intimidate, the 8-5 race favourite in search of his first 2015 win, came through and edged out the other mare in the field, Charmed Life, for fourth-place.
Murmur Hanover came through between horses to take the lead ahead of Damfoolrmillionair into a 27 second opening quarter while Charmed Life, three-wide early, took back into third. Down the backstretch, Damfoolrmillionair swept around the leader and reached the half in :56. As the field approached that half-mile mark, Bags For All made a move from fifth with Hldtghttoyurdrms tracking her cover. Damfoolrmillionair continued to lead past three-quarters in 1:25 with Bags For All less than a length behind.
Meanwhile, Catch The Dream followed in seventh-place and was shuffled to the back of the nine-horse field where he moved into the outer flow, fifth over. Coming off the final turn, MacDonald showed the seven-year-old Cash Hall gelding open road and he began to close quickly on the far outside.
Damfoolrmillionair drew clear into the stretch, but Bags For All was coming to him again while a wall of trotters spread across the track in behind. Sprinting his final quarter in :27.3, Catch The Dream got by in deep stretch for the victory.
Catch The Dream is trained by Bruce MacDonald and owned by Daniel MacIsaac of Charlottetown, P.E.I. He notched his fifth win of the season and 29th lifetime while pushing his bankroll to $473,357.
Catch The Dream paid $11 to win as the 9-2 third choice on the toteboard.
Double-digit longshots ruled early on the program with MacDonald also scoring aboard Victor Puddy's sophomore pacing filly Southwind Geisha at odds of 20-1 in the opener. Canada's leading trainer Richard Moreau then sent out back-to-back upset winners in 14-1 trotting gelding Exemplar, with Sylvain Filion aboard, and 13-1 pacing mare Mileys Big World, driven by Phil Hudon.
Moreau completed a training triple later with trotter Adversity delivering as the fifth race favourite.
The biggest upset of the night took place in the ninth race when the Bob McIntosh-trained trotting mare My Kid Sister and Paul MacDonell pulled off a 54-1 shocker from the 10-hole, nosing out favourites Andovers Touch and Cal Chips Brother, and returning $111.50 for a $2 investment.
The grey pacing gelding Monte Cristo (9-2) and Steve Condren led wire-to-wire to win the evening's 11th race finale with Modern Xhibit (19-1), Hit And Giggle A (6-1), Velocity Headlight (11-1), Leafs And Wings (4-1) completing the top five finish order for the Jackpot Hi 5 wager. The 6-3-10-7-1 winning combination paid $3,927.06 for a 20-cent ticket. The Jackpot Hi 5 carryover for Saturday's Ontario Sires Stakes Super Final card is now $478,565.82.
To view Friday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Friday Results - Woodbine Racetrack.