Austins Martini and Slow And Easy won their career debuts as the new British Columbia Sires Stakes kicked off Friday night at Fraser Downs with a pair of eliminations for two-year-old pacing fillies
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The Rick White-trained and driven Austins Martini romped to a three length triumph in the first $7,350 elimination.
Austins Martini left from Post 5 and cruised past panels of :29.4, 1:01, 1:31.1 en route to the 2:01.3 triumph. Yarhos (Richard Lancaster) followed from the pocket for second while Pureform Lilshell (Carl Sibiga) rounded out the top three, 19 lengths in arrears.
The winner paid $3.70 as the odds-on favourite. White also co-owns the daughter of Austin Carr-Inez Seelster with Janet White of Surrey, B.C. and is now just one training triumph away from the 1,000 milestone.
Slow And Easy also debuted a winner as she rallied from last to first in the second $7,950 elimination for driver Kevin Anderson and trainer Debbie McCarthy.
Cheyenne J (Dave Hudon) took command of the field from Post 2 and carved out fractions of :29, :59.4 and 1:30 before being caught by the late closing Slow And Easy and pocket-pulling Fast Lane Wealth (Mike Short). Slow And Easy rallied home from the back of the pack in :29.4 to win by a neck in 2:00.3 over Fast Lane Wealth. Cheyenne finished half a length behind.
Slow And Easy paid $21.20 for the upset. McCarthy also co-owns the homebred Kents On Nuke-Kbs Midnight miss with Mark Anderson of Willows, California.
For results from Friday's harness racing card, click on the following link: Friday Results - Fraser Downs.