Lyonssomewhere lowered the Canadian season's record for a half-mile track with his wire-to-wire winning effort in the $11,000 Preferred 2 Handicap Pace featured on Sunday night's (April 2) harness racing card at Flamboro Downs.
Securing the lead from the inside post, Lyonssomewhere and driver J Harris led the field of seven through fractions of :26.2, :55.2 and 1:22.4 on the way to a 1:52 victory. The winning time bested J Js Delivery's New Year's Day mark by one-fifth of a second.
Lyonssomewhere paid $13.10 to win over the race favourites. Mach On The Beach (Louis-Philippe Roy), the 9-5 second choice, advanced first-over and finished a length and three-quarters behind the winner while 6-5 favourite Champagne Phil (Scott Coulter) closed off his cover to show.
The six-year-old son of Somebeachsomewhere and Miss Kitty Hanover is owned by Geoffrey Lyons Mound of Brantford, Ont. The former Cane Pace champion, who took his mark of 1:48.2 at The Meadowlands as a four-year-old, was winless in just five starts last year. Sunday's Preferred was his third outing this season and he has now won two in a row at Flamboro for trainer Bruce Goit.
In the $7,500 Preferred 3, Shippen Out pulled off a 9-1 upset rallying home from the backfield to win in 1:55 by one and a half lengths over fellow late-closers Lyons Sands (J Harris) and Bali (Robert Shepherd). Alfie Carroll worked out the winning trip aboard the five-year-old Badlands Hanover-Shipps Bikini gelding for trainer Victor Puddy and Ottawa owners Gord McDonald and Chris Boland.
To view Sunday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Sunday Results - Flamboro Downs.