Kennel Buddy delivered as the 4-5 favourite in Wednesday night's $7,500 Preferred 3 Trot at The Raceway at the Western Fair District with a wire-to-wire victory.
Leaving from post three, Kennel Buddy and driver Travis Henry took the lead early on during the :30-second first quarter. The five-year-old Ken Warkentin gelding proceeded to control the tempo through middle splits of 1:00.2 and 1:30 while rebuffing a first over challenge from Rainbow Gold (Dennis Duford). He then held off the pocket-pulling Keystone Orion (Nick Steward) down the stretch to score the half-length victory in 1:59.3 over the "good" track. Excellence (Lorne House) finished three lengths behind in third while Rainbow Gold and Winzel (Ryan Holliday) followed eight lengths back in a dead-heat for fourth.
Trained by David Dowling, Kennel Buddy earned his fourth win in 14 starts since being claimed by Allan Neal of Grand Bend, Ont. for $10,000 at the end of November 2014. He's already earned triple his claiming price, banking $30,335 in purses for his new connections.
Kennel Buddy paid $3.60 to win.
To view Wednesday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Wednesday Results - Western Fair.