Popular sophomore pacers Da Magician and Senga Nitro stole the show in their respective $10,000 Keith Linton Memorial eliminations featured on the Good Friday (April 14) afternoon card of harness racing at Fraser Downs.
Serge Masse's Da Magician ($2.30) remained undefeated in stakes action with his 1:56.2 wire-to-wire elimination win over late-closer American Dreamer (James Burke) and pocket-pursuer Bakardi Gold (Jim Marino).
The Dragon Again-Hottie Hanover gelding cruised through fractions of :28, :58.2 and 1:27.2 before opening up an insurmountable lead heading into the stretch. Kicking home from the backfield, American Dreamer managed to get within one and a half lengths of the leader with his 28-second closing speed.
Da Magician has won seven of his 16 career starts, including all of his freshman stakes outings -- the Century Bets Stakes, ASHA Colt Stakes, Horizon Pace and Dan Ingram Memorial. He now boasts lifetime earnings of $75,830.
Trained and driven by Ryan Grundy, 2016 Alberta Super Final champion Senga Nitro ($2.50) made his season's debut a winning one after advancing from third to overtake pacesetter Beer O Clock (John Chappell) for the one and a half length score in 1:56.3.
Beer O Clock finished one and a half length behind in second after setting fractions of :30.1, :59.1 and 1:28.1. Mateo (James Burke) followed the winner's cover down the backstretch and finished third.
Senga Nitro is now seven-for-nine in his career after sweeping the Alberta Sires Stakes and winning a division of Century Bets Stakes at two. Kenneth Gunn's homebred gelding, by Blue Burner out of Nells Sweet Future, is just a few hundred dollars shy of the $100,000 earnings mark.
In regular racing action, Masse also drove Lucy Raymond's dominant distaffer Phone Terror ($2.90) to victory in the afternoon's $11,000 Fillies & Mares Open. The eight-year-old Western Terror-Miss Lex mare angled out after following in third-place most of the mile and won by two and a half lengths in 1:55.3 ahead of photo finishers No Guarantees (Paul Davies) and Somewhere A Place (Rod Therres). The victory was her third in a row, giving her 49 wins overall in her career and pushing her bankroll past the half-million dollar mark.
To view Friday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Friday Results - Fraser Downs.