Canada’s Older Pacing Horse of 2009, Bigtime Ball, kicked off Saturday night's card at Woodbine Racetrack with his third consecutive victory in the $42,000
Open Pace.
With regular reinsman Paul MacDonell in Norway for tomorrow’s Oslo Grand Prix, Roger Mayotte took over the driving duties and sent Bigtime Ball to the lead from Post 5. The heavy 1-9 favourite, trained by Gord Irwin, carved out panels of :25.4, :54 and 1:22 en route to his ninth sub-1:50 victory in 1:49.1.
Ramegade Bruiser (Jody Jamieson) finished three-quarters of a length behind and Stonebridge On Ice (Mike Saftic) rounded out the top three.
Bigtime Ball returned $2.20 to win. The victory was his third in four starts this season and the lion’s share of the purse lifted his earnings to $73,500 for the Irwin Stables of Cobourg, ON. The six-year-old son of Presidential Ball-Keystone Trinidad is now a winner of 30 races lifetime and $1,174,673 in purses.
Later on the card, the Bob McIntosh-trained Panmunjom edged out Evening Job and Primary Purpose in a $25,000 conditioner for four-year-old pacers.
Randy Waples hustled the son of The Panderosa-Pandalay Bay to the lead from Post 5 in a :25.4 opening quarter, but gave way to the 4-5 favourite, Ok Boromir (Doug McNair), in the backstretch. Ok Boromir remained in control to the half in :54.3 and three-quarters in 1:23 while Evening Job (Sylvain Filion) advanced from fourth and offered up a strong challenge heading down the stretch. As Evening Job began to wear down the leader, Panmunjom angled wide and pounced, getting up for the 1:50.4 score. Primary Purpose (Mark MacDonald) closed well from off the pace to finish just a head behind in his first start back in Ontario.
Panmunjom paid $7.50 to win as the 5-2 second choice. Peter Pan Stables of Pepper Pike, Ohio owns and bred the bay, who has won two of his 16 starts this season. Panmunjom’s 10th lifetime victory gives him $103,195 in earnings this year and $340,513 lifetime.
To view Saturday's results, click here.