St Elmo Hero returned to the Woodbine Entertainment Group circuit to record another close Open Pace victory on Saturday night at Woodbine Racetrack
.
St Elmo Hero won an Open on Sept. 24 at Mohawk before making a trip to Lexington's The Red Mile where he finished sixth, beat two and a quarter lengths in the Allerage Farms Open Pace on Oct. 1. Returning to Canada, the five-year-old son of Western Hero-Crystal Crickett held off millionaire pacer Bigtime Ball to win WEG's top class in 1:50.3 by half a length.
Early speedster Major Hottie (Chris Christoforou) fired off a :26.3 opening quarter before giving way to the Randy Waples-driven St Elmo Hero, who rushed up from third and cleared just before the half in :55.4. St Elmo Hero continued to lead the way to three-quarters in 1:24.2 while Bigtime Ball (Roger Mayotte) moved underway from fourth with Piece Of The Rock (Scott Young) following his cover. Entering the stretch, Bigtime Ball was looming to his outside, but St Elmo Hero held off the hard closing pacer for the victory. Longshots Piece Of The Rock and Dalhousie Dave (Scott Coulter) also closed well (with sub-:26 second final quarters) for third and fourth. Ok Commander (Sylvain Filion) grabbed the final paycheque.
Trained by Meg Crone and owned by Illinois' John Barnard, St Elmo Hero earned his ninth win of the season in 20 starts while boosting his earnings $251,760. St Elmo Hero, who started his career with a fabulous 25-race win streak, is now 28-for-39 lifetime with five seconds and two thirds. His earnings stand at $386,760.
St Elmo Hero paid $3.60 to win as the bettor's choice.
Kindly Poet, with Phil Hudon catch-driving, rallied home off second over cover to win the $30,000 Preferred Pace in 1:50.3. Longshot Peenie (Randy Waples) and Power Off (Mark MacDonald) rounded out the top three finishers. Murray Brethour trains and owns the Western Ideal-Stonebridge Elite eight-year-old with the Scarff Legacy Stables of Halifax, N.S., Donald Varcoe of Stayner, Ont., and Daniel Sarafian of Stouffville, Ont.
To view Saturday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Saturday Results - Woodbine Racetrack.