Doug Hie trainees Dukester and Who Took That swept the top spots in the $15,000 Born To Trot Series final on a rainy Saturday night at Kawartha Downs
. The series is for non-winners of one race as of April 22.
Fresh off a victory in his elimination, Dukester and driver Richard Webb fired off the gate from Post 4 and settled into the pocket as Parkhill Houston (Fred Brethour) drove up and cleared just past the first quarter mark of :31.1.
Dukester’s more popular stablemate Who Took That (Doug Hie), also an elimination winner, went first up from fourth before dropping into the pocket at the 1:01.2 half-mile mark. At that point, Dukester made his move and applied pressure to the leader past three-quarters in 1:33.2 with Quantum Glidingby (Brad Rae) rolling three-deep after making an early break.
Dukester put away the pacesetter entering the stretch and held off his stablemate, who ducked in between horses, to score by three-quarters of a length in 2:02.3 over the sloppy track rated three seconds off. Quantum Glidingby finished third.
Dukester paid $6.90 to win as the second choice. The four-year-old Duke Of York-Sputters gelding is now two-for-three in 2011 and two-for-11 lifetime. The lion’s share of the purse pushing his career earnings to $16,935 for owner Charalambos Christoforou of Campbellville, Ont.
For results from Saturday’s harness racing card, click on the following link: Saturday Results – Kawartha Downs.