Joseph Michael tripled in the top pacing class at Exhibition Park Raceway for driver Todd Trites and trainer Eric Wilson with a gate-to-wire romp from the outside post position on Saturday afternoon.
Leaving from post six in the feature race, Joseph Michael established the lead and carved out fractions of :30.1, 1:01, and 1:31 en route to the 2:00 triumph. Pocket-sitter Xcel Panic, driven by Mark Haig, and first over challenger Lucky Secret, with Gord Hennessey in the bike, finished over two lengths behind in second and third.
Joseph Michael was deemed the heavy 1-2 favourite after winning his last starts on Nov. 10 and Nov. 17 at Exhibition Park. He paid $3 to win for the 28th time in his career.
The five-year-old son of Jennas Beach Boy is owned by Capital A Investments Ltd. of Lower Cambridge, N.B. and Valerie Phelan of Geary, N.B. The pacer has hit the board in 14 of his 22 starts this year, including eight wins.
For Trites, the victory was one of four on the 11-race card.
Trainer-driver Michael Downey won three races with upsetter Full Of Finesse ($40.60), favourite Forever Finesse ($2.50) and Slim N Sleek ($12.30). With the training triple, Downey pushed his local win count to 21 to tie EPR's season leader Richard Allaby.
To view Saturday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Saturday Results - Exhibition Park Raceway.