Last week it was all about girl power in the featured trot, this week the boys showed Serendipitous how it was done.
Serendipitous (Kevin Cummings) broke at the start of the $8,500 co-featured trot allowing others to take a stab at the big prize. After she broke stride, Justgottogetthere (Jim McNeight) had to battle Vagra (Doug Ackley) early on and was used very hard to get to the lead. When they went past the first quarter, McNeight finally got Justgottogetthere there and set some pretty easy fractions.
When no one decided to move going up the backstretch, Northern Bullet (Shawn Gray) decided he had enough of the slow pace and moved out first over. Studio City (Ron Beback Jr.) followed with cover and both attempted to take the lead from Justgottogetthere, who would give it up.
Turning for home, Shawn Gray stepped into over-drive and Northern Bullet took off, winning by a length over Justgottogetthere, who had to settle for second, and a hard-closing Studio City was third. They completed the mile in 1:58.2.
The victory gives Ontario-bred Northern Bullet (Muscle Mass-Flame Tamer) his third of the year for owner Tessa Roland of Grinnell, Iowa and trainer J D Perrin.
In the co-featured pacing event of the night, A Cameo In Life (Kevin Cummings) managed to pull off a mild upset.
Ugly Betty returned to take on the mares this week and her normal early speed just was not there. A Cameo In Life went right to the lead early on, but Fiftyonefifty (Jack Flanigen) wouldn't just let that happen and took the lead past the quarter.
When they moved past the half-mile marker, Cummings and A Cameo In Life had retaken the lead and tried to slow them down. Ugly Betty made her move going into the turn the final turn, and looked strong, but flattened out in the stretch.
A Cameo In Life had to watch out for hard-closing Dontch Remember (Shawn McDonough) and Eyemajet (Shawn Gray), but held on just long enough to secure the victory in 1:57.3.
A Cameo In Life has now won seven of 14 starts in 2015. He is owned by Clark Siminski of Buffalo, New York and trained by Kirk Desmond.
(With files from Buffalo Raceway)