Murrayfield defeated North America's winningest horse of the year, converting off a pocket trip to prevail in the $10,000 Fillies & Mares Preferred 2 Pace on Wednesday night at The Raceway at the Western Fair District.
Harness racing's current win leader, One Last Bono, established the lead off the gate over a rough-gaited Murrayfield, who collected herself quickly after a misstep in second-place for driver Nick Steward. But as One Last Bono headed to the quarter-pole in :29-seconds, Murphys Ideal launched an attack from third and rolled up to challenge the race leader through the second panel, reaching the half in :57.3.
One Last Bono was able to shake off that rival into the backstretch, but then Murrayfield pulled the pocket and went head-to-head as they raced by the third quarter mark in 1:26.3. Murrayfield gained a slight advantage around the final turn and she pulled clear down the stretch to win by two and a half lengths in 1:56.2.
While the Isaac Waxman-trained One Last Bono's win streak was halted at five as she came in second, she still leads all horses in North America for wins with eight victories in 10 starts on her seasonal scorecard.
As for Murrayfield, she now has three wins this year in nine races. Ben Wallace trains the four-year-old daughter of Jeremes Jet for Holland Racing Stable of Niagara-On-The-Lake, Ont.
Murrayfield was the slight favourite in the field of six (two scratches) and paid $5.20 to win.
Another Waxman-trained pacing mare, Rolltideroll ($3.80), rolled wire-to-wire in the $7,500 Fillies & Mares Preferred 3 and moved into a three-way tie for second-place in the North American standings (with pacing gelding Giddyallyougot and trotting gelding Blazin Benny) while earning her seventh win of the year from 11 starts. Alfie Carroll drove the popular seven-year-old Jennas Beach Boy mare to a four and a quarter length victory in 1:57.4.
The evening's Preferred 3 Trot went to favourite Natural Forces ($5.50), who scored his 40th career victory with a six-length romp in 1:59.2. Skip De Mull drove the Lockkeeper gelding for trainer Kevin St Charles and E C S Racing LLC.
To view Wednesday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Wednesday Results - Western Fair.