Friday night's fourth round events of the B.C. Breeders Stakes featured two-year-old pacing gelding Bakardi Gold and three-year-old pacing fillies No Guarantees and Mysterious Lady in the spotlight at Fraser Downs.
Bakardi Gold prevailed off a pocket trip to win the lone $20,000 fourth leg division of the Robert Millbank Memorial for two-year-old colts and geldings.
The 1-9 favourite yielded to the quick-leaving Millbanks Bart (Rod Therres) at the :27 opening quarter mark and followed through middle splits of :57.4 and 1:28 before sweeping by down the stretch to score in 1:57 flat by one and a quarter lengths. Beer O Clock (Dennis Johnston) followed five and a half lengths behind in third.
Jim Marino trains, drives and co-owns the Badlands Hanover-Artfromtheheart gelding with the J J J Stables of Prince George, B.C. Bakardi Gold won his career-debut in the opening leg on October 7 and finished second in the next two legs before making it back to the winner's circle tonight. He paid $2.20 to win.
No Guarantees and Mysterious Lady were dominant front-end winners in their respective $15,000 Mary Murphy Memorial divisions for three-year-old fillies.
Also owned by the J J J Stables, No Guarantees carved out fractions of :28.4, :59.2 and 1:28.2 en route to a career-best 1:55.4 victory in rein to Paul Davies. Slight 3-5 favourite Jet To The Beach (Glenn White) followed four and a quarter lengths behind off a two-hole trip while Wendy Jay (David Hudon) was the best of the rest.
Debra McCarthy trains the Shadow Play-Michelles Fury filly, who finished second by a neck in the Betty Millbank Stakes Final last year and now has three wins and a close second-place finish in the Mary Murphy preliminaries. She paid $3.90 to win.
Mysterious Lady romped to a six and a half length victory as the 1-9 favourite in her division, leading through panels of :29, 1:00.2 and 1:29.2 before drawing off to stop the clock in 1:57.1 for trainer/driver Dennis Johnston and co-owner Ray Thomson of Surrey, B.C. Bossy (John Hudon) followed in second while Light The Shadow (Serge Masse) completed the top-three finish order.
The Thomson homebred filly by Mystery Chase out of Lady Motion, who went unraced as a two-year-old, has earned two wins and a pair of second-place finishes in the Mary Murphy Stakes. She returned $2.10 to win at the betting windows.
This week's $10,500 Fillies & Mares Open Pace was won by Fraser Downs newcomer Goldies Mach and trainer/driver John Chappell in 1:56.4 by three-quarters of a length over Part Time Lady (Paul Davies). The five-year-old Mach Three-Goldies Cam mare, who paid $12.50 to win, is owned by Paul Sanders of Surrey, B.C.
In other action, a minor collision occurred in the evening's fifth race when favoured Tricky Bet (Rod Therres) broke stride and interfered with Millbanks Dontell (Chris Linford). Their race bikes appeared to hit when veering to the outside of the track, but fortunately, no injuries were reported.
To view Friday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Friday Results - Fraser Downs