Favoured fillies Alexas Princess and Wedding Dance shared the spotlight on Saturday afternoon (April 29) as the Century Downs stakes season kicked off with a pair of $20,000 Moores Mile divisions.
Even-money favourite Alexas Princess ($4.30) broke her maiden with a wide-open victory in the first stakes race of the season at Century for the hot Kelly Hoerdt stable, which won half of the afternoon's eight races. Hoerdt drove the three-year-old filly for his Edmonton-based partners, Kyle Anderson and Peter Giannakopoulos.
Alexas Princess made her move at the midway mark after landing mid-pack from the inside post as Lil Bit O Jingle (Bill Tainsh Jr.) and Jk Ellem Enoh (Mike Hennessy) traded turns on the lead through a :28.2 opening quarter and then a rough-gaited Grinandchaseit (Brandon Campbell) worked to clear from the outside. Grinandchaseit took over in front of the grandstand and led past the half in :57.3 with Lil Bit O Jingle abandoning a failed first-over attempt and Alexas Princess charging outside of that foe. The Hoerdt trainee struck the front at the 1:26.4 third quarter mark and cleared in the final turn before drawing off down the lane for the eight-length victory in 1:57. Outlaw Imahotvixen (Jamie Gray) chased the winner home in second and Jk Ellem Enoh finished third.
A newcomer to Western Canada for the 2017 season, the Rocknroll Hanover-Michelles Victory filly earned her first career win from three races this year and 16 starts overall. The winner's share of the purse boosted her bankroll to $26,779.
Favourite Wedding Dance ($4.10) was a wire-to-wire winner in the second division, establishing a new career mark of 1:55.4 with Jim Marino catch-driving for trainer Harold Haining and owner Don Richardson of Cochrane, Alta.
Leaving from post five as the even-money bettors' choice, Wedding Dance cleared Nightime Chase (Keith Clark) for the lead and carved out panels of :28.1, :57.4 and 1:26.1 while repelling first-over challenger Steady Breeze (Kelly Hoerdt). She then held off Thats It (Mike Hennessy), who rallied off cover and out-finished the pocket-pulling Nightime Chase in a place photo finish, three-quarters of a length behind the winner.
A multiple stakes champion in Alberta winner at two, Wedding Dance earned her first victory of the season from three sophomore starts. She now has five wins lifetime from 13 races and earnings totalling $58,047.
Hoerdt's other winners included Lucky Lucka ($3.80, Brad Watt), Sufferin Succotash ($6.70, Hoerdt), and Jet To The Beach ($6.60, Phil Giesbrecht), who held off stablemate Thats Extra (Hoerdt) by half a length in their match-up.
In other action, Rick Schneider drove his first winner since 2012 as his trainee Dickies Motel ($6.70) led from start to finish while rebuffing slight favourite Cowgirl Poker (Mike Hennessy) in a $3,000 claiming-conditioned pace.
To view Saturday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Saturday Results - Century Downs.