Three-year-old trotter Charlie Is A Joker overcame the obstacle of starting from the outside post position in a full field of 10 to record his seventh straight victory in the Friday night opener at Woodbine Racetrack
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The Per Henriksen pupil got away sixth in his $20,000 first race conditioning assignment and moved into the third over spot as the field raced down the backstretch. Catch-driver Chris Christoforou sent the son of Angus Hall out of Keystone Caprice three-wide down the stretch and with open road ahead he surged home in :28.4 for the 1:57.4 triumph. Pacesetter Taras Princess (Jody Jamieson), who carved out the race fractions of :27.4, :58, and 1:28, faded to sixth as the backfield came to life. Finishing over one length behind the winner, Rise N Shine (Phil Hudon) and Chinese Cuisine (Rick Zeron) rallied home to grab second and third place honours respectively.
Charlie Is A Joker is now 10-for-12 in his debut year and has yet to finish worse than third for owners Thomas and Elizabeth Rankin of St. Catharines, Ont. The homebred bay gelding has earned over $54,000 for his efforts.
He returned $3.10 as the 1-2 favourite for a $2 win ticket and was part of the Christoforou Daily Double (10-5), which paid $30.80.
To view results for Friday's card of harness racing, click the following link: Friday Results – Woodbine Racetrack.