Favourites Sterling Cooper and Kismyjet turned in a pair of wire-to-wire performances in the elimination round of the Clarence 'Sugar' Gagnon Memorial Stake for three and four-year-old B.C. owned, sired or bred male pacers on Friday night at Fraser Downs
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Sterling Cooper kicked off the weekend with a 1:54.1 score over a sloppy track rated two seconds slow in the first race $7,500 elimination for driver David Hudon and trainer-owner Greg Smith.
With the inside post advantage, the four-year-old Camluck-Babyremembermyname gelding grabbed the lead and never looked back as he raced past fractions of :28.1, :57.1, and 1:25.1. A :29-second final panel put Sterling Cooper four lengths ahead of his foes at the wire. Red Star Tyson (John Abbott) was second and Midnite In La (Darren Howald) finished well back in third. The time of the mile was just one-fifth of a second off the winner's lifetime mark.
Sterling Cooper paid $5 to win for the first time in eight seasonal starts. He now sports a career record reading 4-3-7 in 22 outings and earnings totalling $28,065.
Two races later, Kismyjet front-stepped his way to a 1:57 triumph for trainer-driver Serge Masse, who shares ownership with James Vinnell.
Leaving from the two-post, the sophomore gelding by Jeremes Jet out of Kismet Killean fired to command and cruised past panels of :27.4, :58.1, and 1:27 before hitting the wire with one and three-quarter lengths to spare. Longshot Red Star Johnny (Gord Abbott) finished second and Thunder Noise (James Burke) came in third. The winning time bested Kismyjet's lifetime mark by one-fifth of a second.
Kismyjet returned $3.60 to his backers. He is now two-for-two on the year and has four wins in 10 lifetime starts. Kismyjet has yet to miss a paycheque in his career for earnings of $20,326.
To view Friday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Friday Results - Fraser Downs.