Stakes action headlined the afternoon card of harness racing on Saturday, Oct. 18 at Connell Park Raceway in Woodstock, N.B., with the main event's winners throwing down gauntlets that none of the rivals dared or could pick up.
Going For Blood ($2.10; pictured above) powered forward from post two in the $15,.000 New Brunswick Breeders Stakes for two-year-old pacing fillies and was never threatened. After fractions of :30.1, 1:01.1 and 1:32.1, the daughter of Blood Money - Rolling Going Gone sprinted home under wraps in :29.1 to score in 2:01.2. Nevaeh Divine (Colin Sheppard) tracked throughout but couldn't haul down the 1/9 choice, finishing 3-3/4 lengths in arrears, with Lady Spencer (Sam Hodgin) best of the rest in third.
Arsenault also trains Going For Blood, a four-time winner with $44,754 in earnings, for Peter Smith of Stratford and Gerald Morrissey of Charlottetown, P.E.I.
Sheppard was able to find the front end in the $15,000 New Brunswick Breeders Stakes for two-year-old pacing colts and geldings with Shekhan ($5.40) and that take-all-comers strategy was also the winning formula here. Crossing over quickly from post two, Shekhan sashayed strongly through sections of :30.2, 1:01.3 and 1:32 before hustling home in :27.4 for the 1:59.4 victory. Favoured Kapueno (Arsenault) finished three lengths back in second with Tiziano (Neldie MacDonald) at the bottom of the triactor ticket.
A son of Blood Money - Just Breathe, Shekhan is owned by Walter Deagle of Inverness, N.S. and trained by Morgan Sheppard. He's now a three-time winner with $18,104 in purses earned.
Whats Inthe Esky A ($2.10) made every call a winning one in the $2,000 Winners Over Pace, defeating Chuck You Farlie and driver Mark Haig — the only rival after after a pair of scratches reduced the field to a virtual match race. Colin DeCourcey giuded the 11-year-old son of Western Edition - Rustlin A Kiss to a 1:58.3 victory for trainer Robert Kitchen and owners Bala Stable of Skiff Lake, N.B.
To view the results from Saturday's card of harness racing in Woodstock, click the following link: Saturday Results - Connell Park Raceway / Woodstock Raceway (NB).
(Standardbred Canada)