Post time favourites Out Of The Hat ($3.80) and Smokeys Luck ($7.10) were victorious in the featured back-to-back Winners Over events mid-card on Sunday night at Rideau Carleton Raceway.
The only mare in the field, Out Of The Hat defeated her male rivals in the $6,500 top trotting class for the second week in a row. The six-year-old daughter of Kadabra swept around Four Starz Speed to retake the lead after the first quarter and went on to win by three-quarters of a length in 1:58.1 over that foe in the passing lane. Rocky Boy was third.
Stephane Pouliot trains and drives Out Of The Hat, a 41-time career winner, for owners Meadowgem Farm and 9096 9205 Quebec Inc.
The class-climbing Smokeys Luck earned his third consecutive win in the pacing division. He advanced first up from mid-pack at the half to take the lead by the top of the stretch and then held off the pylon-skimming D Gs Woodstock by half a length for the 1:54.3 triumph. Miramontman and Poppys Bucky Boy, the slight second and third choices on the toteboard, finished one and a half lengths back in third and fourth, respectively.
The win was the 40th lifetime for Smokeys Luck, a 10-year-old Camluck gelding claimed for $9,000 on April 5 by Andre Hebert of Papineauville, Que. He races from Rideau's leading Gerard Demers stable, with top reinsman Gord Brown handling the driving duties. After going winless in 19 starts last year, he has won half of his 18 races so far this season.
To view Sunday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Sunday Results - Rideau Carleton Raceway.