Rideau Carleton Raceway hosted its first ever added distance racing day on Friday night in which all 14 races on the card were contested at a distance of one and a quarter miles
.
Coming away with the track records for the added-distance at the end of the night were pacer Arch Villain and trotter Perseverando.
Arch Villain scored his second straight win for his new connections, trainer John MacMillan and owners Stephanie and Brian Cassell of Gloucester, Ont. The four-year-old The Panderosa-Luv R Diamonds gelding, driven by Gord Brown, recorded the fastest time of the night, winning the 12th race in 2:28.3 over the snowy track rated four seconds slow.
Wave Board (John MacDonald) left from the center of the track and cleared to command ahead of insider Great Anticipation (Stephane Pouliot), but was quickly overtaken by the advancing Aarons Mattjesty (Thomas Dalborg) at the :29.4 opening quarter mark.
Wave Board then moved back out for the retake and reached the half in 1:00.1. Meanwhile, Arch Villain began his first over attack from fifth and applied pressure to the leader as they raced by three-quarters in 1:30.3.
Arch Villain took over command down the backstretch reaching the one-mile juncture in 1:59.2 before drawing away by six lengths in the stretch. Aarons Mattjesty finished second, but was placed back to fifth for causing interference. Favourite Sparky Bayama (Denis St. Pierre) was third-placed-second while Wave Board inherited third.
Arch Villain, the 3-1 second choice, paid $8.50 to win for the fifth time in 26 starts this year.
Perseverando was the fastest trotter on the card, winning his eighth race assignment in 2:30.2 for driver Per Henriksen and trainer Ann Karin Larsen, who also co-owns with Norway's Odd Larsen.
Good Friend (Darrell Coville) left from the middle of the track and established the lead over insider Wallace Hanover (John MacDonald) before the :30.3 first quarter mark. At that point, the popular Chaplin Hall (Simon Allard) rushed to command from fourth, but just as he cleared Perseverando began his first over march and collared the leader at the 1:01.1 half.
Planet Earth (Guy Gagnon) was the next in line and he edged out in front of the grandstand, but Perseverando fought back around the turn and hit the third quarter station in 1:30.4. He drew clear of Planet Earth by the 2:00.4 one mile marker and kicked away to prevail by five and a half lengths. Good Friend finished second with Chaplin Hall coming in third.
Perseverando paid $10.60 to win as the 4-1 second choice. The four-year-old Andover Hall-Rondelle son recorded his third win in a row and sixth in 12 seasonal starts.
To view Friday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Friday Results - Rideau Carleton Raceway.
As I understand it the idea
As I understand it the idea was to give fans - thoses out on the tarmac @ -10, an up close view of the horses while they stared and finished their "mile" in front of the grandstand. To me a 5/8 dash (even 11/16) would have the same effect and the boys could really hum them along. The head on camera shot before the gate let them go was kind of cool.
Yonkers races a lot of x distances - do the punters like it? do they bet more on a full field of distance races than standard mile dashes? We should find out instead of guessing.
In reply to As I understand it the idea by Gavin Christie
Gavin is right. Distance
Gavin is right. Distance races offer an opportunity to test your handicapping skills. If it were me, I would go to Rideau and watch. See if the early speed horses can hold, or if the extra distance opens up opportunity for the closers and the consistent horses.
It looks like Yonkers has gone back to racing at a mile, so there’s no point in downloading their programs and seeing how well you can pick. But you can go the Yonkers website and download past performances to see if the early speed holds and to see how well the chalk horses do. Granted, it’s a different track, a different handle, a different betting public, but it might give you some idea of what to look for in a mile 1/16 race. Good luck!
don't like the idea of
don't like the idea of racing longer distances. keep it simple like all other tracks in ontario. what is the purpose of such a change? why make the change? it's a turn-off for the bettors. if woodbine harness would do the same distance, as in rideau, i'm sure they would lose many bettors.
In reply to don't like the idea of by appolo
You’re right Mike: racing
You’re right Mike: racing at distances longer than a mile complicates things for the handicapper. I’m guessing that this is done to offer the public a better view of both the start and finish, or perhaps to negate the effects of short turns on half-mile tracks. If larger purses were consistently offered for these longer races, it would encourage the breeders to look more at endurance and less at early speed, but I doubt that this is the reason for the longer race distances. Hopefully someone out there will read your comment and tell us the real reason.
In reply to You’re right Mike: racing by Thomas248436
I think it makes things more
I think it makes things more interesting for the handicapper. One of the things that makes thoroughbred handicapping more interesting sometimes is that we run different distances on different surfaces. I enjoy standardbred handicapping, but you really only have to look at race conditions and the size of the tracks. I think it would be great for the harness racing industry if races would be run a distances other than a mile. It's done everywhere but North America.