Veteran horseman David Hudon dominated the Friday, Nov. 29 card of harness racing at Fraser Downs with the Rick Lancaster-trained Preferred winner Itll Be Fine and a trio of successful starters from his own stable highlighting his five-win night.
Itll Be Fine nosed out Sunshine Boy for the 1:53 victory in Friday's featured $10,000 Preferred Pace. Let go at 8-1 odds, Itll Be Fine and Hudon blasted to the front from the outside post six in a :26.2 opening quarter before being looped by Sunshine Boy (Scott Knight), who led through middle splits of :57 and 1:25. Down the stretch, Hudon urged his charge through the passing lane in a :27.3 final quarter to prevail in the photo finish. Rum N Raisins (John Abbott) closed from the back of the pack for the show money, finishing more than two lengths behind.
Itll Be Fine, a five-time Preferred winner this meet with his latest victory just two weeks ago, paid $19.20 for the upset. Owned by Lancaster and Leslie Godlien, the five-year-old Hes Watching-Modern Hanover gelding now has a total of nine wins from 35 starts this year and has added more than $75,000 in purse earnings to his bankroll, which has climbed to nearly $230,000.
Hudon was also in the bike for wins with his own trainees Boothill Hudy ($5.90), Keepsgettingbettor ($6.20) and Ara Your Crazy ($3.50) -- the latter four-year-old pacer winning his fourth in a row and taking a new lifetime mark of 1:53.4 in his stable debut.
The local horseman's other driving win was in rein to four-year-old Shots Fired ($21.30), who lowered his mark to 1:54 and give trainer Rebecca Kanak her second victory on the program.
Hudon's five victories included a stretch of four in a row to close out the nine-race card.
To view Friday's harness racing results, click the following link: Friday Results - Fraser Downs.
(Standardbred Canada)