Three-year-old pacing filly Divine Art took her double-digit win streak to Century Mile and tacked on another victory facing older mares as the winter meet kicked off at the Edmonton, Alta. oval on Friday night (Nov. 18).
The multiple Alberta stakes winner led all the way in the featured $13,500 Fillies & Mares Preferred Pace to earn her 11th consecutive victory for trainer/driver Nathan Sobey.
Sent postward as the 3-5 bettors' choice, Divine Art ($2.80) cruised through fractions of :28.4, :58 and 1:27.2 while 3-1 second choice Stash The Cookies and Logan Gillis rushed up from the back of the six-pack, but the favoured front-striding filly shrugged off that rival down the stretch to win by one length in 1:55 flat. Stash The Cookies settled for second while 43-1 longshot Past Affair and David Kelly finished third off a pocket trip.
Divine Art boasts a dozen wins from 15 sophomore starts and has amassed $195,107 in purses this season for owners Robert Jones of Stony Plain, Alta., Diane Bertrand of Lake Country, B.C., and John Hind of Calgary, Alta. A two-time Alberta Super Final champion, the Outrageous Art-Keystone Divine filly now has 15 career wins and lifetime earnings totalling $255,627.
Divine Art is being pointed to the Century Casinos Filly Pace, with eliminations scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 26 and the $110,000 (est.) final the following Saturday, Dec. 3, co-featured with the Western Canada Pacing Derby.
Sobey also picked up wins with three-year-old pacing colt Light My Shadow ($4.40) and sophomore filly Introduce Yourself ($22.70) to start the meet with a training triple. He also had another winning drive aboard four-year-old pacer Show Stop ($21) for trainer/owner Greg Manning.
Live harness racing will continue next Thursday evening (Nov. 24) as Century Mile hosts the 2022 National Driving Championship presented by Standardbred Canada. Post time is 6:15 p.m.
To view Friday's harness racing results, click the following link: Friday Results - Century Mile.