Outlawishfulthinkn prevailed in a group photo finish to win the $20,000 Clarence Gagnon Memorial for Jim Marino on Sunday afternoon at Fraser Downs.
The stakes event is for three and four-year-old horses and geldings that are B.C owned, bred or sired and non-winners of $30,000 lifetime (no allowances) as of January 1, 2013.
With the inside post advantage in the featured ninth race, Cams Cool Shark (Serge Masse) took control of the field and led the way through opening panels of :27 and :57.2. Meanwhile, Just Hank (Bill Davis) took a brief tuck in fourth behind Outlawishfulthinkn early on before advancing first over with I Dont Really Care (John Abbott) following his cover and fanning three-wide.
Just Hank cleared to command by the three-quarters mark in 1:26.3 with I Dont Really Care just a half-length off the lead and Outlawishfulthinkn now out and rolling three-deep around the final turn.
Just Hank maintained the lead into the stretch with Outlawishfulthinkn in pursuit on the outside and I Dont Really Care breaking stride in between. Outlawishfulthinkn edged by in deep stretch though for the career-best 1:56.3 victory by a nose. Four Diamonds (Travis Bowman) sprinted home from the backfield and came through for the runner-up honours over Just Hank. Elimination winner Excessive (Gerry Hudon) finished a half-length behind in fourth off a trailing tier start and a pocket ride.
Outlawishfulthinkn, who finished second by a head to favourite Eden Shooter in last weekend's elimination, paid $17.80 to win as the 7-1 fifth choice in the field.
Marino drives, trains and owns the four-year-old Blue Burner gelding, who earned his first stakes victory of his career. He has now won half of his four starts this year while more than doubling his lifetime earnings, which now sit at $26,703.
Trainer/driver Bill Davis won the following two races to close out the 11-dash card with J J J Stables' Open pacer Big N Bad ($5.20) taking a new mark of 1:51.4 -- and coming within two-fifths of a second of the track record for older geldings -- and Garden Gate Ll ($4.10) winning the finale by nearly six lengths.
Trainer/driver Scott Knight also won two races while Marino had a driving double.
To view Sunday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Sunday Results - Fraser Downs.