One of North America's winningest horses continued his winning ways as The Light Speed snagged his 17th victory of the season in the $10,000 Preferred Handicap on Sunday, Nov. 26 at Rideau Carleton Raceway.
Leaving from post seven in the field of eight, trainer/driver Guy Gagnon was aggressive from the outset with The Light Speed as they found themselves a parked-out third while Lovemyrockinbird (Samuel Fillion) led to an opening quarter of :27.1. The Light Speed continued his march to the lead, clearing on the front stretch before tapping the brakes to the halfway point in :57.2. Pressure came to The Light Speed in the next panel as D Gs De Vito (Stephane Brosseau) led the outer flow with race favourite Jet Rock (Dany Darveau) on his back to the third quarter in 1:25.2.
The Light Speed shrugged off D Gs De Vito on the far turn but faced a two-pronged attack in the lane. Lovemyrockinbird took his shot up the passing lane looking for the 40-1 upset while Jet Rock began to surge off the second-over trip. However, The Light Speed proved to be dead-game on the front end, digging in with a :28.4 final quarter to hold sway by a half-length on the line in 1:54.1. Jet Rock got up for the place spot, with Lovemyrockinbird finishing third.
The 17 victories on the year for The Light Speed are good enough for second amongst all horses in Canada behind Shark Week (18 victories) and puts him in a tie for third in all of North America. The Michel Nolette five-year-old gelded homebred son of Moon Beam-Jayma has now banked $119,175 on the year and $329,054 for his career.
To view Sunday's harness racing results, click the following link: Sunday Results - Rideau Carleton Raceway.