SJs Nitelife used last second heroics for driver Mario Rivest, who engineered the field-sweeping score with the five-year-old son of Life Work in Wednesday’s feature race – the $11,000 Preferred Pace – at Sudbury Downs.
The France MacLean-trained gelding was in no hurry in the early part of the mile, but Missionacomplished and Round About Fame were. They exchanged punches to the quarter pole in :27.3 before Missionacomplished won the battle. He rolled the field to the mid-way point in :56.3, and that was music to the ears of SJs Nitelife who was sitting last in the seven-horse affair.
Missionacomplished maintained a narrow lead at the three-quarter pole, which popped up in 1:27, but challengers were looming bold. Deuces And Jacks was applying first-over pressure at that point and Jersey Dan was lurking in the garden spot. SJs Nitelife, in the meantime, had advanced into fourth position.
The strides of the leaders began to shorten, but SJs Nitelife was just getting started. He propelled his way to the lead in the final strides by using a :29.2 final frame. He won by a quarter of a length over runner-up Jersey Dan. Missionacomplished, who was a half length away, finished third.
Brenda Gauthier of Azilda, ON holds the papers on SJs Nitelife, who now owns a 2-5-2 record in his first 11 starts of the season. The pacer is quickly closing in on $100,000 in lifetime earnings. He currently sits at $98,467.
To view Wednesday’s results, click here.