Greenleaf, cutting the mile, and Ram, capitalizing on a pocket trip, won their respective $9,500 conditioned trotting features on Thursday, March 12 at Flamboro Downs.
Greenleaf found the front end her cup of tea in the opener as she posted the fractions in a seasonal-best score. She was on the inside of a five-horse line heading into the first turn and put them all behind her to lead unopposed through the first-half panels of :29 and :59.2. The mare quickened down the backstretch for J.R. Plante, extending her advantage to 2-3/4 lengths by three-quarters in 1:28.2, and she glided home to prevail by a length over the closing Tencaratgold (Samuel Fillion) in 1:58.3. Charmbo Chip (Scott Coulter) was third.
Greenleaf notched her third win of the season in seven starts and her second in her past three outings. Pierre-Marc Longpre trains the four-year-old daughter of Green Manalishi S-Wawona for Ecurie Largo Inc. of Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes, Que. Thursday’s win upped her record to eight-for-30 lifetime with $60,686 in earnings. She paid $3.10 to win.
In the second event, Ram secured the two-hole early as he slotted in behind Ramiro (Dagfin Henriksen), and he bore witness to a long battle for the front as Overend (Brett MacDonald) went first-over just past the quarter in :29.4 to pressure the leader. Overend slogged uncovered around the second lap, keeping the pacesetter company through the half in :59.4 and three-quarters in 1:29.4. Angel Fly Away (Bert Renaud) arrived off cover on the final turn, and Damian MacLellan directed Ram to the passing lane in a four-horse stretch dash. Ram, Overend and Angel Fly Away reached the line nearly in sync, but Ram got his nose up to nab Overend for the 2:00.3 victory. Angel Fly Away finished third, beaten a head.
Ram has taken three wins from his last four starts and is four-for-eight this year. The four-year-old Royalty For Life-Monarch Butterfly entire, trained by Cory Fuller for James Wilson of Melancthon, Ont., won for the fifth time in 22 career starts and has now earned $30,302. The winner returned $6.80.
To view Thursday’s harness racing results, click the following link: Thursday Results - Flamboro Downs.
(Standardbred Canada)