Livingitlarge was a rather large number on the tote board, but that did not deter the 52-1 shot as he rallied to pull the shocker in the $11,000 Preferred Handicap Trot on Monday, Feb. 23 at The Raceway at Western Fair District.
Leaving from the rail in the feature field of six, Livingitlarge and driver Lorne House settled into the fourth position early while the 2-5 favourite, Passarino (Jason Ryan), laid down the first quarter in :28.4. The field raced single-file to the half in :59.2 before Passarino stepped on the accelerator and opened up on the backstretch, trotting away by 3-1/2 lengths at three-quarters in 1:28.1 while Livingitlarge still had more than six lengths to make up from second-over.
The lead began to diminish for Passarino on the final bend, coming back to the pack as Livingitlarge began to pick up steam three-wide at the head of the lane. Moving from fifth to first in the final eighth-mile, Livingitlarge surged in the stretch to get the better of Passarino by a length on the wire, stopping the timer in 2:00.2. Lookproud (Brett MacDonald) rallied from last to be third and round out the triactor.
House, of Dutton, Ont., trains and co-owns Livingitlarge along with Chantal Ruijs of Georgian Bluffs, Ont. The five-year-old Wheeling N Dealin-Prime Time gelding is now a nine-time winner for his career, surging to six figures in career earnings with $101,848 following the upset win. Livingitlarge returned $107.70 to those who backed him to win.
To view Monday's harness racing results, click the following link: Monday Results - Western Fair Raceway.
(Standardbred Canada)