Two-year-old pacing filly Manhattan Night took a perfect record into Tuesday’s $28,800 Autumn Series Final at The Raceway at Western Fair District, but in order to stay perfect she was going to have overcome the dreaded seven-hole.
Thanks to a little help from a wild, front-end battle she did just that for the tandem of driver Natasha Day and trainer Anita Ouellette.
Day dropped her charge into seventh while stablemate So Frisky and Mary Read waged war to the quarter pole in :28. Mary Read eventually worked her way to the front, and she went on to carve out the half-mile clocking of :57.
The field bunched up past the half, and that sent the backfield wide around the tiring leaders. Article Annie swept up to take the lead at the three-quarter pole in 1:27.2, but Manhattan Night was hot on her heels in the four-wide position. Manhattan Night then use a :30.4 closing quarter to win by 1-1/2 lengths over Article Annie in 1:58.2. So Frisky took home third prize.
Sent off as the even-money favourite, the homebred daughter of Dali-Manhattan Killean improved her record to 4-for-4 for Luc Ouellette Incorporated and Alan Alber. The lion’s share of the loot lifted her earnings to $26,825.
The undercard featured the $8,500 Fillies & Mares Preferred 3 class, and Casino Classic used her rallying skills to post an impressive victory for driver Ryan Holliday and trainer Robert Manders.
Holliday got away fifth with his charge while Ideals Oath rolled to the lead and laid down fractions of :28, :58 and 1:26.3. Casino Classic popped off the rail and tracked cover as the field headed to the half. She was three-wide in the backstretch, and then used a :28.4 final frame to win by 4-3/4 lengths over race favourite Ideals Oath in 1:56. Sieras Rose was third.
Richard Manders and Keith Manders share ownership on the four-year-old daughter of Classic Card Shark-Art Alliance. She improved her 2018 record to 6-4-9 from 28 trips to the track this season. The 15-time winner has banked over $110,000 to date.
To view results for Tuesday's card of harness racing, click the following link: Tuesday Results – The Raceway at Western Fair District.