Pacer Adkins Hanover and trotter Dragin The Wagon prevailed in a pair of close calls during the $11,000 Preferred 2 co-features on a foggy Sunday night (Dec. 13) at Flamboro Downs.
Shipping in off the Woodbine circuit, Adkins Hanover delivered as the 3-2 favourite in the pacing division, leading through panels of :27.3, :56 and 1:24.4 en route to the 1:55.1 triumph. The six-year-old Western Ideal gelding held off Topcornerterror, who advanced from third heading into the backstretch and just missed by a neck at the wire, while Sir Machalot closed outside for the show prize.
Simon Allard supplied the winning drive for Adkins Hanover, who is trained by Joe Pereira and owned by William Gillan and Colin Densley Burrows. Adkins Hanover notched his seventh win from 24 starts this year and pushed his annual income to $48,760. The winner returned $5 to his backers at the betting windows.
In the trotting division, Spartan Victory took the lead from post seven over Dragin The Wagon with 3-2 favourite Lexis D J following in third. Positions remained unchanged through opening fractions of :27.4 and :58.1 then Money Maven launched a mild first over challenge through three-quarters in 1:28. Spartan Victory continued to lead the field into the stretch while Lexis D J shot through inside and Dragin The Wagon tipped outside. In a three-way fight to the finish, Dragin The Wagon got up in time to score the victory in 1:58.1. Spartan Victory was the runner-up with Lexis D J finishing third.
A top three finisher behind Lexis D J and Spartan Victory in the last two Preferred events, Dragin The Wagon paid $9.60 to win. James MacDonald picked up the catch-drive behind the five-year-old Angus Hall homebred for trainer Jeff Byron and owners James, David and Michael Cantelon. The victory was the trotter's seventh from 30 starts this year and lifted his 2015 earnings to $46,405.
The fifth race for $10,000 claiming pacers produced the closest of finishes with a pair of dead-heats: one for the win between Speed Racer (Alfie Carroll) and No Serious Matter (Travis Henry) and one for third-place between He Said (Anthony MacDonald) and Pictonian Caper (Scott Coulter).
To view Sunday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Sunday Results - Flamboro Downs.
The most interesting thing
The most interesting thing about the night was the double dead heat. I have announced about 60,000 races and never had this happen.