You had to see it to believe it. Horseman Kelly Hoerdt had the magic touch on Saturday, Nov. 23 at Century Mile as he guided home five winners, including three-year-old pacing gelding Believe It Sea It, who turned a 16-length deficit into a two-length triumph as he went from last to first in his race.
Believe It Sea It was 16 lengths off runaway leader Captain Van Gogh at the half and still had nearly a dozen lengths to make up with a quarter-mile to go, but the Hoerdt trainee sailed by them all in the stretch with a :28.2 final frame to win the $8,700 seventh race in 1:57 flat. The winning time was the fastest of the night over a 'good' track on the -12 degree evening in Edmonton with light snow falling. Hoerdt trains, drives and co-owns the sophomore son of Downbytheseaside with Blair Corbeil and Carole Dunbar.
Believe It Sea It produced the biggest payout of five off-the-pace winners that Hoerdt drove on the nine-race card, returning $16 to win.
Hoerdt also made winner's circle appearances with three-year-old filly Born A Spy ($13.50) and three-year-old gelding Rum N Custard ($3.10) to complete a training triple. Hoerdt has trained more than 100 winners a year for the last eight seasons and his current 106 win count in 2024 ranks top five in Canada.
The veteran horseman, who has driven 132 winners this year, bookended the card with victories in rein to the lightly raced three-year-old filly Baby Limbo ($5.40) for trainer Mathew Howlett and the persistent five-year-old pacer Redstone Arsenal ($2.70) for Chris Lancaster.
To view Saturday's harness racing results, click the following link: Saturday Results - Century Mile.
(Standardbred Canada)