Dave Menary trainees Century Jamila and Blue Pacific duked it out in the stretch with the former edging out the latter for a repeat score in the $36,000 Fillies & Mares Preferred Pace on Friday, March 21 at Woodbine Mohawk Park.
Fresh off a successful debut in the Mares Preferred class two weeks ago, Century Jamila lowered her season's record to 1:52.3 in another close finish, this time with her stablemate in the win photo.
Glenboro flashed her usual early gate speed for driver Travis Cullen as she blasted off the outer wing and crossed to command over Century Jamila and Louis-Philippe Roy before 2-5 favourite Blue Pacific and Doug McNair swept to the top into the first turn. After a :27.4 first quarter, the field of a half dozen mares raced in single file led by Blue Pacific to the half in :56.3 then Roy made his move with Century Jamila advancing first-over through three-quarters in 1:24.3 to confront her barn buddy. Turning for home, the Menary trainees took off with Century Jamila collaring Blue Pacific in deep stretch for the victory.
Century Jamila, the 4-1 second choice, paid $10 to win. Millionairess So Much More, driven by James MacDonald, edged out Glenboro to show more than three lengths behind.
Owned by Pennsylvania's Pollack Racing, Century Jamila has now won four races in a row and is five-for-nine this year with seasonal earnings at $75,320. A career winner of 16 races, the five-year-old Bettors Delight-Exotic Pleasure mare has hit the board in 38 of her 61 starts and is closing in on the $300,000 mark in earnings.
The feature win was the first of four successful drives on the 11-race card for Roy.
Perfect through a pair of preliminary legs of a conditioned Pop-Up Series for pacing fillies and mares, Coz Im Special and Charmbo Stormy met in the $35,000 finale on Friday, drawing opposite ends of the starting gate. Charmbo Stormy, driven by Roy, was the slight favourite and landed on the lead after being parked past three-eighths from post 10 before inside starter Coz Im Special and McNair worked their way from third position to first and drew off by 3-1/4 lengths for the 1:53.1 season's best victory.
The series sweep lifted her lifetime earning over the $250,000 mark. The seven-year-old Mystery Chase-Cozamel mare is currently trained by McNair's father, Gregg, and is owned by Rick Rier of Hanover, Ont.
This Pop-Up Series was for female pacers that were non-winners of $30,000 or not averaging $1,700 per start in 2024 with a minimum of 15 starts.
Live harness racing resumes at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday before Mohawk will be taking its scheduled March break next week.
To view Friday's harness racing results, click the following link: Friday Results - Woodbine Mohawk Park.
(Standardbred Canada)