Doug Hie reached a career milestone, Gord Brown won half the card and Dagfin Henriksen captured two races including two-year-old Southwind Gizzel’s second win in as many lifetime starts on Saturday’s card of racing at Kawartha Downs.
Long-time Kawartha Downs horseman Doug Hie guided SOS Mach Xtreme to victory tonight at the Fraserville oval to give him 2,500 lifetime wins. It was the second win this year for the five-year-old Mach Three gelding owned by trainer Jamie McEachern and Gary Smith.
Hie, of course, is from a long line of respected horsemen in this area. His father Cliff trained and drove horses for many years and Doug and his brothers Carman, and the late Roger, followed in his footsteps. In addition to being one of the leading drivers at Kawartha Downs, Doug also serves as track superintendent.
Kawartha’s leading driver Gord Brown had the hot hands Saturday evening, scoring five victories on the 10-race card. His trips to the winner’s circle were courtesy of Fleetwood Jeremes (1:58.2), Vegas Rich (1:54.4), Whipperosa (1:57.3), Fightmaster (1:54.1) and King Trut (1:59.3).
Dagfin Henriksen scored a pair of wins including with Southwind Gizzel, a two-year-old Muscle Hill filly who was notching her second win in as many lifetime starts.
A moment of silence was held before the start of the race card for long-time horseman Richard ‘Nellie’ Wright who passed away earlier this week. In addition to racing many horses, Nellie operated the tack shop on the backstretch for more than five decades. A donation to the Ontario Standardbred Adoption Society was made to Wright’s sons, Alan and Joe, in Nellie’s honour.
(With files from Kawartha Downs)
To view results for Saturday's card of harness racing, click the following link: Saturday Results – Kawartha Downs.