Three-year-old pacers Hector Protector and Watch And Pray were the stars of the Wendell Smith Memorial Stake elimination round winning their respective $7,500 events on Friday night at Fraser Downs
. The stake is for BC owned, bred or sired sophomore colts and geldings that are non-winners of $12,500 lifetime as of February 14.
Hector Protector converted a pocket trip into a 1:55.2 victory in the first elimination for driver Glenn White and trainer Rick White.
The Usher Hanover-Raging Granny gelding left from the inside post position, but gave way to outside post six starter and 4-5 favourite Steve O (Jim Marino) at the :27.2 quarter pole. Hector Protector played follow the leader through middle splits of :57 and 1:26.1 before launching his attack into the stretch and surging ahead to a one and three-quarter length victory. Steve O settled for second while Procrastinatinpeat (David Hudon) came in third.
Hector Protector paid $10.80 to win as the 4-1 third choice. The victory was his second in five seasonal starts for owners and breeders David and Freda Woolley of Langley, B.C.
Watch And Pray, trained by Marjorie Dumont, delivered as the 1-2 favourite in the second elimination with a wire-to-wire score in 1:56.3 for driver and co-owner J.F. Gagne.
In a field of five, Watch And Pray took command from the outermost post and went unchallenged through fractions of :29.3, :58.4, and 1:27.3 en route to one and a quarter length score. Austinlavistababy (Rick White) sat third for most of the mile before overtaking pocket-sitter Bobbysslackkeystar (Jim Marino) in the stretch to grab second place honours.
Watch And Pray returned $3.10 to win for the second time in three starts during his debut season. Gagne owns the Ludwigpanbeethoven-Watch Over Me gelding with fellow breeder Joe Tinelli of St. Albert, Alta. and Carl Warnaar of Kelowna, B.C.
This week's $12,500 edition of the Fillies & Mares Open Pace went to favourite Village Janus and Serge Masse in 1:52.4. The four-year-old daughter of Modern Art-Village Jest, owned by trainer Rod Therres and Vancouver's Veikko Pajunen, advanced first up from fourth past the three-quarters mark and put away pacesetter Jennas Pass (Keith Clark). Jans Rich Girl (Scott Knight) finished three-quarters of a length behind in second and Camifasolasi Do (J.F. Gagne) came in third. Village Janus paid $4.10 to win.
To view Friday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Friday Results - Fraser Downs.