Lookin For A Fight let his rivals duke it out for much of the mile before sweeping past late to upset in the $45,800 Autumn Stake Final for three-year-old colt and gelding pacers on Saturday night at Woodbine Racetrack
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The action was fast and furious from start to finish in this one with Justalittleluck (Nick Steward) pushing out from the rail post and parking High Energy (Jack Moiseyev) through an opening fraction of :26.1 before yielding command in the second quarter.
No sooner did High Energy clear when Hellsapopin (Mike Saftic) came to the outside to challenge through a punishing :54.2 first half. At that point, Justalittleluck came back to the outside from third with race favourite Ricky Bobby (Jody Jamieson) following closely on his heels in fourth.
Justalittleluck was able to retake the lead as the field passed the third marker in 1:23.1, but had Ricky Bobby in close pursuit with the backfield starting to come to life. As the field turned for home, Ricky Bobby moved up to wrestle the lead from the winded Justalittleluck but was unable to hold off Lookin For A Fight, who was closing hard on the outside with Mark MacDonald.
Lookin For A Fight emerged victorious by 1-1/4 lengths with Ricky Bobby holding second and Casimir Inyurface (Sylvain Filion) closing to pick up the show spot. Lookin For A Fight rewarded his backers with a $43.90 win ticket.
It was the fifth win in 29 starts this season for the Tammey McEneny trainee, who is owned by the V M B Stables of Hamilton, Ont. The winner’s share of the purse increased his seasonal take to just over $62,000.
MacDonald also scored three more wins on the card - all for trainer Tracy Brainard. Driver Jody Jamieson notched three wins on the program giving him 701 on the year in Canada - 38 away from the national single season record of 739 set by MacDonald in 2006.
In other action, millionaire pacer Keystone Horatio converted a perfect pocket trip into his second straight $50,000 Open victory for driver Randy Waples and trainer John Kopas.
Bolero Charles (Paul MacDonell) fired off the gate from post six and put up a flashy first quarter of :25.3. The field remained in single file alignment as Bolero Charles rolled to the half in :54.
At that point, Hyperion Hanover (Rick Zeron) made the first-over sacrifice with Ramegade Bruiser (Jody Jamieson) and Balanchine (Mario Baillargeon) following his cover to three-quarters in 1:22.1.
In the stretch, Hyperion Hanover edged past the leader while 3-2 favourite Keystone Horatio angled out of the pocket to get up for a photo finish. Keystone Horatio prevailed by a nose in 1:49.4 – one fifth of a second off his lifetime mark. Dali (Luc Ouellette) rounded out the top three.
Keystone Horatio, a four-year-old son of Rustler Hanover-Keystone Havoc, has won six of his 20 starts this season good for $174,400 in purses. He now sports 16 wins on his record with over $1.2 million in earnings for the Estate Of George F Hempt Trust of Camp Hill, Pennsylvania.
To view Saturday's harness racing results, click here.
(With files from WEG)