Evenin Of Pleasure held off Ellis Park in a close finish to win the $34,000 Preferred Pace featured at Woodbine Racetrack on the eve of Breeders Crown night.
Driver Sylvain Filion sent Evenin Of Pleasure right to the top from the outermost post six and the 9-5 favourite maintained a two-length lead on his foes through fractions of :26.3, :55.4 and 1:23.3. Meanwhile, Ellis Park began his attack from fourth down the backside and dropped into a two-hole opening around the final turn. Ellis Park tipped back out with an eighth of a mile to go, but came up just short as Evenin Of Pleasure prevailed by a head in 1:50.4. Atomic Million Am came from last to show, edging out Nirvana Seelster, two and a half lengths behind the winner.
The win was the second in a row for the five-year-old son of Dragon Again, who had also front-stepped his way to a 1:53.2 victory in the $50,000 Oktoberfest Classic Invitational in his last outing on Oct. 9 at The Raceway at the Western Fair District.
Evenin Of Pleasure now sports a seasonal record reading 5-7-4 from 24 starts and earnings of $183,090. Richard Moreau trains the pacer for Gestion J Y Blais Inc. of Montreal, Que.
Evenin Of Pleasure returned $5.30 to win.
Filion also drove Alibi Terror to a $27.40 upset victory, timed in 1:53.2, in a fillies and mares claiming pace, giving Tyler Schlatman his first career training win. Alibi Terror was making her seventh start for the Guelph, Ont. horseman, who turned 25 years old last week.
Woodbine's second-leading trainer Carmen Auciello closed out the Friday night card with three consecutive upset winners, Burnin Money ($22.90), Forever Just ($26.40) and Oceanview Bindi ($10.80), all driven by Jonathan Drury. Auciello also completed a sweep of the top two spots in the 12th race as 11-1 shot Thorn In Your Side was just a neck behind Forever Just at the wire.
To view Friday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Friday Results - Woodbine Racetrack.