Boots N Hearts and Mighty Mouse kept their respective win streaks rolling with victories in a pair of Alliance Series finals at The Raceway as Western Fair District on Friday night (December 30).
Boots N Hearts ($3.50) won the $12,200 final for $7,500 claiming trotters by five lengths in 2:01 over the 'good' track. Nick Steward drove the nine-year-old Striking Sahbra mare, who won the first leg for trainer Kyle Fellows before joining the Patrick Shepherd stable for the final after being claimed by Stephen Morton of Windsor, N.S. The win was her third in a row.
Boots N Hearts, the 3-5 favourite, followed in third-place early on while Natural Grace (Bob McClure) led the field through opening panels of :29.2 and 1:00.4. Steward then sent the chestnut mare on the attack and took over command by the 1:30.1 third quarter mark before drawing off down the lane. Riddle Me Miss (Alfie Carroll) closed late to nab the runner-up role while Natural Grace settled for third.
Mighty Mouse ($6.10) closed out the card winning the $12,700 mares final for $6,500 claiming pacers in 1:59.3 by half a length. Trained by Jim Watt for owner Alyshia Williamson of Blyth, Ont., Mighty Mouse has now won four in a row including her first leg division of the series.
Sent postward as the 2-1 second choice from post nine, driver J Harris had Mighty Mouse positioned third-over in the outer flow and followed cover three-wide down the backstretch to collar race leader Shes Deadly (Bob McClure) turning for home. In the race to the wire, the five-year-old daughter of Million Dollar Cam prevailed between the pocket-pulling E L Avenger (Natasha Day) and oncoming Thaline (Paul MacKenzie). However, E L Avenger was placed fifth for causing interference to Imnotamirage (Steward) down the stretch. Thaline inherited second-place and Shes Deadly was bumped up to third after leading through panels of :28.2, :58.2 and 1:28.3.
Harris led all drivers on the night, winning the last three of 11 races. Steward, Shepherd, and Watt each has doubles along with Scott Coulter.
Meanwhile, Kyle Bossence earned his first training win as The Raceway's leading driver Alfie Carroll steered five-year-old pacer They Call Me Gordy ($7.20) home first in 1:59 flat in the evening's eighth race. They Call Me Gordy went first-up to overtake pacesetter Jackstan (Ryan Holliday) and defeated the pocket-pulling 2-5 favourite Mach It Big (Nick Steward) by one length for the 25-year-old Arthur, Ont. trainer and owner. Bossence earned his first win in just eight career starts. It was the only victory for They Call Me Gordy this year from 32 races.
The Raceway will feature a 10-race card of harness racing to close out the year on Saturday, Dec. 31. The New Year's Eve program will begin at 8 p.m.
To view Friday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Friday Results - Western Fair.