Outlaw Blue Isle earned her first victory facing Preferred distaffers, holding on for the half-length score in the $12,500 top mares class at Century Downs on Friday, April 19.
Following a runner-up finish to back-to-back Mares Preferred winner Outlaw Sharktastic in her season's debut a week ago, Outlaw Blue Isle stole the show for trainer/driver David Kelly, leading through fractions of :28.1, :57.4 and 1:26 before holding off the pocket-popping 7-5 favourite, If Only Id Known (Phil Giesbecht), for the 1:54.4 victory. Daisy Corvette (Logan Gillis) went three-wide off stalled cover down the backstetch and finished more than two lengths back in third. Handicapped outside six foes, Outlaw Sharktastic (Nathan Sobey) trailed early and faced a traffic troubled trip from the back, ending in a dead-heat for fifth this time out.
The feature win was part of a driving grand slam on the nine-race card for Kelly, who shares ownership of Outlaw Blue Isle with Don McDougall of Calgary, Alta. The six-year-old Blue Burner-Isle Of Shoals mare came within two-fifths of a second of her lifetime mark while recording her 11th career win and lifting her earnings to $97,196.
Outlaw Blue Isle paid $10.10 to win as the 4-1 second choice.
To view Friday's harness racing results, click the following link: Friday Results - Century Downs.
(Standardbred Canada)