The favourites headlined the third and final leg of the Alberta Sires Stakes for two-year-old pacers on Saturday night, Oct. 19 at Century Mile led by the track record-setting gelding Outlawminutbyminut and the streaking filly Custard Dolce.
The colts and geldings were up first in a pair of $26,800 Alberta Shooting Star divisions. Outlawminutbyminut dominated the first division, leading the field of six in post position order wire-to-wire in a career-best 1:54.3 mile to set a new track record for freshman geldings. He knocked one-fifth of a second off the record set last November by Come On Santana. (The overall male rookie record stands at 1:53.2, held by colt Matteuse.)
Trained and driven by Logan Gillis, the Smart Shark-At This Hour gelding held a commanding lead through fractions of :29.1, :58.1 and 1:26.4 before widening his margin out to nearly eight lengths through the stretch. Picking Rocks (Jamie Gray) was second with Worldsgreatestsin (Brandon Campbell) out-finishing G Ts Captain Solo (Mike Hennessy) in a show photo.
Outlawminutbyminut is now four-for-seven in his career and has earned $75,100 for Gillis and co-owner Todd Teolis of St. Albert, Alta. The 3-4 favourite paid $3.50 to win.
The second division for the male pacers was won by the persistent Custers Stand in 1:56 flat with Phil Giesbrecht driving for trainer Marie Brooking.
After getting away fourth in the early going, Giesbrecht made a quarter-pole move sending the even-money favourite after the front-striding Momas Work Of Art (Serge Masse). After a :29.2 opener, Momas Work Of Art kept his challenger at bay through middle splits of :57 and 1:26.3, but Custers Stand kept at it through the stretch and finally wore down the pacesetter to win by 1-1/2 lengths. Captain Captain (Dave Kelly) shot up the inside to edge out Momas Work Of Art for second with Discontinued (Brandon Campbell) out of the pocket and three-across in that photo for place.
Custers Stand followed up his maiden-breaking victory in the Rocky Mountain Boys Stakes over Outlawminutbyminut two weeks ago with another successful start, paying $4.30 to win. The Custard The Dragon-China Art colt has earned $42,383 from nine races for owners Dianne and William Neish of High River and Len Denham of Westerose, Alta.
The first $26,800 Alberta Stardust division for fillies turned into a two-horse race between the favourites, with Blowing Inthe Wind popping pocket and prevailing by half a length after a stretch duel with pacesetter Imashipwreck.
The field was reduced to just a quartet of fillies after a pair of scratches with Imashipwreck (Phil Giesbrecht) getting the first call as she took on the role of pacesetter with 4-5 favoured Blowing Inthe Wind tracking every step of the way for driver Kelly Hoerdt. The fractions went in :28.2, :57.3 and 1:26.2 with those two well in front of the trailing pair. Imashipwreck started to sail away in the final turn, but Blowing Inthe Wind blew by down the lane. The duel continued in deep stretch as Imashipwreck tried to fight back but Blowing Inthe Wind persevered in a new lifetime mark of 1:56.1. Third prize went ot Tornado Rain (Jamie Gray), who finished 2-1/2 lengths behind.
Blowing Inthe Wind now has three wins from nine outings and $45,989 in the bank. Harold Haining trains the homebred daughter of Winds Of Change out of Miss Conduct for owner/breeder Donald Richardson of Cochrane, Alta. A $2 win ticket on the filly returned $3.60.
Custard Dolce was the fastest of the fillies as she extended her win streak to seven with a 1:55 score in the $27,100 second Stardust division for trainer/driver Jamie Gray.
From the outside post seven, Hot Shot Shark (Logan Gillis) forged three-wide into first turn to make front, but early leaver Mademechangemymind (Nathan Sobey) pocket popped as they rolled by the quarter in :29.2 and looped to the lead. Meanwhile, 3-5 favourite Custard Dolce and Gray watched the action from third through a :58.4 half before making their move. Custard Dolce edged ahead of Mademechangemymind as they rounded the final turn to three-quarters in 1:27.4 and those two fillies took off in a stretch battle with former prevailing over the latter by three-quarters of a length at the end. Hazels Hazelnut (Darren Callaghan) completed the top three finish order nearly seven lengths behind.
Custard Dolce, who has not lost a race since finishing fourth in her career debut on July 12, paid $3.40 to win. Gray bred and co-owns the Custard The Dragon-Blue Star West miss, who has stashed away nearly $100,000 in purses going undefeated in stakes action. His partners include Jackson Wittup of Calgary, Max Gibb of Millarville and Derek Wilson of Heritage Pointe, Alta.
The top performers in the Alberta Sires Stakes will face off in the $80,000 Challenge Of Champions Super Finals on Nov. 2.
Hoerdt led all drivers on the 12-race card with four winners, including two from his own stable, while Gillis and Haining also had training doubles. Brandon Campbell led in the training category with a triple on the undercard, driving his winners Yenoh Who ($6.70), Mercedes ($4.40) and Agricola ($8.80).
To view Saturday's harness racing results, click the following link: Saturday Results - Century Mile.
(Standardbred Canada; Photo of Outlawminutbyminut winning on Oct. 19)