After 118 starts, veteran trotter Hldontghttoyurdrms made his debut in the Forest City on Tuesday night and captured the co-featured $7,500 Preferred 3 Trot at The Raceway at Western Fair District.
With Alfie Carroll up for trainer and O'Brien Award finalist Richard Moreau, the seven-year-old son of Muscles Yankee was fired off the gate from post two and made the early lead. From there, the fractions of :29.2, 1:01.1 and 1:31 kept his seven rivals at bay and a :29.1 closing quarter was enough to give Hldontghttoyurdrms the three-quarter length decision over first-over challenger P C Dream Ticket (Curtis Clements) with the mile timed in 2:00.1. Pocket sitter Mandeville (J Harris) was just back of the top pair, completing the triactor.
Hldontghttoyurdrms (Muscles Yankee - Sweet Gabriella) surpassed the $400,000 mark in lifetime earnings with the victory. Ottawa's Frank Spagnolo holds the papers on the 24-time winner.
One race later, Insincerity was completely unforgiving to her six rivals in the $7,500 Fillies & Mares Preferred 3 Pace, coming first-up with Paul MacKenzie to take over command before drawing clear by a length and a quarter over Zip Car (Scott Coulter) and tripping the timer in 1:59.1. Miss Brandi K (Bob McClure) just fell short of Zip Car and had to settle for show honours.
Insincerity (Rambaran - Super Filly) now boasts 39 lifetime victories with more than $254,000 in career earnings for breeder-owner-trainer William Hamm of West Lorne, Ont.
Earlier in the card were three $5,400 divisions in the second leg of the Alliance Series for conditioned fillies and mares racing for a $12,500 price tag. Those divisions went to Sportsillustrator (1:59), Sweetshadyshark (2:01) and Gossip Model (1:59.1).
Also worth noting was the win of another veteran on the card as 12-year-old Montreal Phil notched his 65th lifetime tally -- a gate-to-wire score in 1:59.1 -- for driver J Harris, trainer Patrick Shepherd and owner Stephen Morton of Windsor, N.S.
Live harness racing resumes at Western Fair on Friday with a jumbo-sized 16-race card and a special 5:30 p.m. first race post time.
To view the results from the Tuesday card at Western Fair, click the following link: Tuesday Results - Western Fair.