Hidden Potential rallied three-wide off cover turning for home and swept by the front-runners in deep stretch to close out Monday night's harness racing program with a victory in the $9,000 Preferred 3 Pace at The Raceway at Western Fair District.
Sent postward as the 8-5 favourite in rein to Scott Coulter, Hidden Potential got away fourth and picked up cover from Sure Please (Ryan Holliday) with one lap to go in the 1-1/16 mile event.
Tuition Money (Marc St Louis) had established a two-length lead into the first turn, which he maintained through fractions of :27.4, :58.1 and 1:27.1.
Sure Please began to reel in the leader past the three-quarters mark while Hidden Potential fanned three-wide and then powered up for the one-length win clocked in 2:04.3 for the extended distance. Notetoself Hanover closed further out to nab the runner-up role while Tuition Money settled for third and Sure Please finished fourth.
Hidden Potential returned $5.20 to win.
Owned and bred by V M B Stable of Hamilton, Ont., the nine-year-old Lis Mara gelding has won two of his last five starts and now has 29 career victories and earnings over $260,000 on his record. Hidden Potential is trained by John Pentland.
Machs Boy and driver Brett MacDonald won the evening's fourth race, which was named in honour of Kristy Dustin, the daughter of longtime horseman Greg Dustin. Drivers, trainers and owners at both The Raceway and Woodbine Mohawk Park donated a portion of their earnings tonight to the 33-year-old mother of two who is undergoing breast cancer treatment and joined her in the winner's circle in a show of support following the race.
Monday night's seventh race was declared a 'No Contest' after an accident occurred in the first turn when On Golden Ponder (Garrett Rooney) fell while racing in fourth place and trailing horses Bulldog Tenacity (Bill Kirkpatrick) and Shoe Shine (Alfie Carroll) got tangled as a result of the incident.
Reports from The Raceway indicated all horses and drivers got up on their own merit and were unharmed. Rooney and Carroll returned to action in the following races while Kirkpatrick booked off his remaining drive in the finale; his trainee Irvine James finished fifth with Scott Wray in the bike.
All pari-mutuel wagers in the seventh race were refunded.
To view Monday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Monday Results - The Raceway.