Dialamara opened the WEGZ Series with a career-best performance in the $17,000 first leg on Saturday night at Woodbine Racetrack.
Driven by James MacDonald, Dialamara left well from post seven to establish the early lead over Three Rivers Dell (Doug McNair) through a :27.2 first quarter. Parked through the opening panel, even-money favourite Camvicted (Sylvain Filion) managed to work his way to the top into the backstetch, but as he cleared to command, Three Rivers Dell launched his attack.
Three Rivers Dell brushed by Camvicted at the half in :56.4 and began to open up a couple of lengths on top. MacDonald then sent Dialamara around the lagging favourite and in pursuit of the new leader, who reached three-quarters in 1:25.
It appeared to be a two-horse race into the stretch as Dialamara was hot on the heels of Three Rivers Dell, with the rest of the field playing catch-up multiple lengths behind. The former overpowered the latter down the lane and drew off by four and a half lengths to score in 1:54 flat, lowering his lifetime mark by three-fifths of a second. Late-closers Halton Hurricane (Rick Zeron) and Conversation Boy (Jonathan Drury) came on for second and third-place over Three Rivers Dell.
Coming off a second-place finish in the Count B Series on Feb. 20, Dialamara was sent postward as the 9-5 second choice tonight and paid $5.90 to win.
Pat Fletcher trains the Lis Mara colt for owner John Lamers of Ingersoll, Ont. Dialamara, who went two-for-eight as a freshman, has finished no worse than second in his four winter series starts to earn $32,200 in his sophomore campaign.
The WEGZ Series is for Ontario-sired three-year-olds that were non-winners of $50,000 lifetime as of October 31, 2014.
Saturday night's $34,000 Preferred classes were won by trotter Fearless Man and pacer Ultimate Beachboy -- both in Canadian season records for their respective gaits.
Fearless Man overcame his assigned post nine and went wire-to-wire (:27.2, :56, 1:23.4, 1:53.1) for trainer, driver and co-owner Rick Zeron, paying $4.10 to win as the even-money favourite. The victory was his third in a row and lowered his own Canadian season trotting record by two-fifths of a second. Rockin With Dewey (Mario Baillargeon) followed two lengths behind while Burnin Money (Jonathan Drury) came on for third.
Randy Waples maneuvered Ultimate Beachboy out of the pocket down the stretch for his win after following Avatartist (Mike Saftic) through hot fractions :25.2, :53.4 and 1:21.4. He prevailed in 1:49.4, matching Nickle Bag's fastest Canadian mile so far in 2015. Summer Camp (Chris Christoforou) finished second after closing off the cover of Nickle Bag (Sylvain Filion), who crossed the wire tonight in third-place. David Menary trains the winner, who returned $13 to his backers, for Burke Racing Stable, Weaver Bruscemi, M1 Stable and Jack B. Piatt III.
General Brock champion Bourbon Bay continued his win streak outside of series action with a career-best 1:54.2 mile in a $22,000 conditioned trot. Mike Saftic drove the heavy 1-2 favourite, who now has six consecutive wins on the season, for trainer Mike Sinclair and owner John Cummings Jr.
Woodbine's Jackpot Hi 5 carryover has increased to $534,791.07 for Monday night's harness racing program.
To view Saturday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Saturday Results - Woodbine Racetrack.