Sportswriter sophomores Millbanks Bart ($5.20) and Yoga Pants ($2.60) were wire-to-wire winners in their respective $40,000 divisions of the B.C. Sales Stakes featured on Friday night (April 7) at Fraser Downs.
With Serge Masse catch-driving for trainer Rod Therres and co-owner Blair Miller, Millbanks Bart was an easy winner in the colt and gelding division.
With the inside post advantage, 8-5 second choice Millbanks Bart secured the lead early on and carved out panels of :27.3, :57.4 and 1:27.1 en route to the 1:58 victory. Slight favourite Bakardi Gold followed one and three-quarter lengths behind in second for Jim Marino while Beer O Clock and John Chappell overtook Mach Steady at the third quarter mark and held third down the lane.
Millbanks Bart, who won half of his six races at age two, earned his first victory of the year from three starts to boost his bankroll to $58,600.
After going five-for-six in stakes action as a freshman, Yoga Pants picked up right where she left off and won her sophomore debut in the filly division of the B.C. Sales Stakes for breeder, trainer and driver Jim Marino.
Sent postward as the overwhelming 1-5 favourite, Yoga Pants fired off the gate from post five and crossed in front of insider Keys Please and Serge Masse. Yoga Pants set fractions of :28.2, :59.4 and 1:28.1 with the 5-2 second choice hot on her heels throughout, but unable to get closer than one and a half lengths of the 1:56.4 winner in a two-horse breakaway. Sustainedintensity, driven by Kevin Anderson, was the best of the rest.
Yoga Pants matched the season's fastest mile in Canada for a three-year-old pacing filly on a five-eighths mile track.
J J J Stables' Rick Mowles owns the filly, who pushed her six-figure bankroll to $121,250 with the win.
To view Friday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Friday Results - Fraser Downs.