Itll Be Fine rallied from the back of the pack and prevailed in a close call to earn his third straight victory in the $10,000 Preferred Handicap Pace at Fraser Downs on a rainy Friday, March 21.
With a trio of starters taking off in an early tussle, outside assignee Itll Be Fine and driver Dave Hudon bided their time at the back of the five-pack before swooping the group for the 1:54.4 victory over the 'good' going. The race ended in a close call, both in terms of margin of victory and proximity to runner-up West Coast Beach, who sustained broken equipment and drifted into the winner as they reached the wire in a photo finish.
At the start, West Coast Beach (Kelly Hoerdt) overtook One Tough Beachboy (Robert Scrannage) and Rum N Raisins (John Abbott) in a contested :27 opening quarter and led the field through middle splits of :58.1 and 1:25.4.
Meanwhile, Rum N Raisins moved first-up down the backstretch with his favoured Rick Lancaster stablemate Itll Be Fine rallying three-wide from the back turning for home.
West Coast Beach drifted off the pylons in the final turn with One Tough Beachboy coming through to his inside at the top of the stretch. A resurgent West Coast Beach regained a late lead in the straightaway but Itll Be Fine was closing quickly on the outside and prevailed by half a length with West Coast Beach finishing second in tight quarters. One Tough Beachboy rounded out the top three finish order 1-3/4 lengths behind.
Itll Be Fine started his six-year-old campaign with a third-place finish followed by three consecutive victories in the Preferred class at Fraser, pushing his lifetime win count to 29 and bankroll to $256,288. Lancaster shares ownership of the Hes Watching-Modern Hanover gelding with Leslie Godlien of Langley, B.C.
The winner paid $3.10 as the 1-2 bettors' choice.
Tom Wood's homebred L Ds Boss ($9.30) gave Lancaster back-to-back wins on the eight-race card as he took the next race for $10,000 claiming pacers in 1:59.2 with Fraser's season-leading driver Brandon Campbell working out the winning trip from the trailing tier. The victory was one of five on the night for Campbell, who also scored with Billy Buxton ($17.60) for trainer Margaret White, Airline Pilot ($4.60) for Rebecca Kanak, Hurrikane Ferrigno ($8.90) for Cody Easton and Catch Me Oliver ($7.50) for Jeff Waltenburgh.
To view Friday's harness racing results, click the following link: Friday Results - Fraser Downs.
(Standardbred Canada)