Holding off the 1-9 favourite, Major League N touched all the bases en route to victory in the $12,000 Fillies & Mares Preferred Pace on Thursday, Nov. 28 at Flamboro Downs.
Ed Hensley pointed the 11-year-old veteran to the point from post three and she made every call a winning one from there. After panels of :27.2, :56.4 and 1:24.1, Major League N dug deep to fend off the encroaching favourite Shoot The Whiskey (Travis Cullen) by a head to complete that giant effort in 1:53.4. Settn A Precedent (Samuel Fillion) finished 2-1/2 lengths back of the front pair to complete the triactor ticket.
Owned by driver Ed and trainer Ashleigh Hensley of Dundas, Ont., Major League N (Gotta Go Cullen - Candlestick Park) picked up her eighth win of the campaign and 45th lifetime tally. The victory bumped the bay mare's earnings to $421,140 in her 177-start career.
Sent off as the 6-1 second choice in her 177th career appearance,, Major League returned $14.60.
Also making her 177th career start was nine-year-old pacing mare Shemars Lady Havoc, who got up in the final strides to capture the 11th race of the evening for driver Austin Sorrie in 1:58.1. The win was the first of the year for Shemars Lady Havoc, a daughter of Dali - St Lads Havoc owned by breeder Sheila Lewis of Waterford, Ont. Lewis took over the conditioning on her homebred for the 2024 campaign, and she earned her first lifetime training win in the process.
A notable victory also occurred in the first race of the evening when 21-1 shot Redhot Redemption trounced a group of $8,000 claimers for driver J Harris in a lifetime best 1:55.2 for owners Louie and Matthew Hardy Eftimiadis of Newmarket, Ont. The four-year-old Believeinbruiser gelding is trained by Wayne Smith of Brampton, Ont., who notched his first training win in more than 15 years. His last win came almost 15 years ago to the day at the very same racetrack when Narnia Seelster broke her maiden and notched her only career victory on Nov. 26, 2009 at Flamboro.
For the results from the card of harness racing just outside of Hamilton, click the following link: Thursday Results - Flamboro Downs.
(Standardbred Canada)