Manhattan Night and Conquest AS came out on top in Friday night's (Dec. 17) co-featured Preferred 3 events at The Raceway at Western Fair District.
Returning to The Raceway where she won the Fillies & Mares Preferred 3 Pace on November 26, the Anita Ouellette-trained Manhattan Night delivered as the 3-5 favourite in this week's $10,000 event, scoring in 1:56.2 off a perfect pocket trip engineered by Travis Henry.
Leaving three-wide from post five, Manhattan Night tucked into the two-hole behind Randomirogeo (Jason Ryan) early on and followed through fractions of :28, :57.2 and 1:26 while Buttermilk Hanover (Marc St. Louis Jr.) pressed the pace first-up. The top two continued to battle noses apart into the stretch, but Manhattan Night shot through up the passing lane to prevail in a three-across finish. Buttermilk Hanover edged out Randomirogeo for the runner-up honours.
After picking up a pair of cheques in her last two starts competing at the Preferred 2 level at Flamboro Downs, Manhattan Night returned to the London winner's circle and she paid $3.40 for a $2 win ticket.
Owned by Luc Ouellette Inc., the homebred five-year-old daughter of Dali out of Manhattan Killean has won seven of her 29 starts this year while adding nearly $62,000 to her bankroll that is approaching the $200,000 mark. The victory was her 21st lifetime.
In the next race, Conquest AS survived an overland journey to win the matching Preferred 3 for trotters after missing by just a nose in an added-distance version of this class one week ago.
Driven by Marc St. Louis Jr., Conquest AS was sent postward as the 3-2 second choice and he advanced from the backfield to match strides with the popular pacesetter Los Ballykeelamigo (Jason Ryan) after fractions of :29.2, 1:00.2 and 1:29. Racing head-to-head turning for home, Conquest AS took over command in the stretch to prevail by one length in 1:59.2, equalling his winning time in this class on November 25. Missys Magic Man (Ryan Holliday), the longest shot on the board at 75-1, shot through the inside lane to nab second-place while Los Ballykeelamigo, bet down to 6-5, held on for third. The winner returned $5.10.
Duane Marfisi trains Conquest AS, who notched his fifth win from 32 starts this year and pushed his annual income over the $50,000 mark. Lifetime, he has won 14 races and nearly $150,000 in purses. The four-year-old Conway Hall-Cordele AS gelding is owned by Roy Sproxton, Harbhajan Singh Dhillon, Darryl Kaplan and Green And Gold Ltd.
To view Friday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Friday Results - Western Fair Raceway.