Mach It Big wore down favourite Major Hottie in a tight finish to win the $10,000 Preferred 2 Pace featured on a Sunday night at Flamboro Downs for Team Shepherd.
Robert Shepherd drove the five-year-old son of Mach Three for his brother, trainer Patrick Shepherd, and owner Stephen Morton of Windsor, N.S.
Major Hottie (Luc Ouellette), the slight favourite at odds of 8-5, left hard from post four to establish a two length lead over insiders Bestinthebusiness (Scott Coulter) and Mach It Big.
Major Hottie led the field of nine through fractions of :28.1, :58.1 and 1:27.1, but Shepherd sent Mach It Big first over at the half and moved up to pressure the leader around the final turn.
Major Hottie maintained a slight lead into the stretch, but his rivals were quickly closing in. Bestinthebusiness zipped up the passing lane while Mach It Big surged by on the outside to prevail by a quarter-length in 1:57.3. Major Hottie held on for second over Bestinthebusiness while Smokin Bear (James MacDonald) made it a four-across finish with a late rally on the grandstand side.
Sent postward as the 5-1 third choice, Mach It Big paid $12.60 to win. He now has 22 top three finishes from 37 starts this year, including eight wins, for earnings of $81,543.
The Shepherd brothers also teamed up to win the $6,500 Preferred 3 with 8-1 shot Bad Boy Hill prevailing in another close call in 1:58.1 for Great Britain's Tom Hill. The gelded sophomore son of Stonebridge Regal sat fifth for most of the mile before sweeping wide to win by half a length over Web Cam (Trevor Henry). Im Feelin Good (Anthony MacDonald) was third. Bad Boy Hill paid $18.80 for the upset win.
To view Sunday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Sunday Results - Flamboro Downs.