D Gs Woodstock has been involved in a handful of very close finishes over the past five weeks in Rideau Carleton Raceway's top pacing class with Sunday's race being his closest yet, but this time the Yankee Cam gelding had the slight advantage and notched his 25th career win.
Denis St Pierre drove the homebred eight-year-old gelding, who now has two wins and three second-place finishes in his last five starts in the $6,500 Winners Over Handicap Pace. Guylaine Fortin trains the $166,859 career earner for owner Daniel Surprenant of Saint-Valentin, Que.
D Gs Woodstock was overtaken by newcomer Electric Albert (Ted McDonald) at the :28 quarter pole and followed along through middle splits of :57.4 and 1:25.1 while Smokeys Luck (Gord Brown) went head-to-head with the front-stepper. As the top pair battled down the stretch, D Gs Woodstock shot up the passing lane and got his nose to the wire first in 1:54 flat over Electric Albert while Smokeys Luck went off-stride. Victor Bayama (Yves Filion) finished over two lengths behind in third. D Gs Woodstock paid $10.90 to win.
Undercover Bro moved back up into the Winners Over trotting class and was also involved in a photo finish for his Sunday win.
Ghirardelli Lindy (Melanie Plourde) cleared to command ahead of favourite Michelangelo (Denis St Pierre) after the :27.4 first quarter and maintained a two-length lead through middle splits of :56.3 and 1:26.4. Meanwhile, Undercover Bro left well and tracked the leaders in third. Locked in by the outer flow turning for home, Undercover Bro closed late through the passing lane to reach up for the victory in 1:57.2. He prevailed by a quarter-length over Ghirardelli Lindy, returning $10.70 for a $2 win ticket. Michelangelo was third.
Trainer Richard Lareau shares ownership of the seven-year-old Classic Photo gelding with Stephane Legrand of St-Jean-Sur-Richelieu, Que. Undercover Bro now has 22 career wins and $106,290 in purse earnings.
What A Rush ($5.10) is riding a high as the four-year-old trotting gelding earned his fifth consecutive victory at Rideau. His latest on Sunday was a 1:59.4 score with Brett MacDonald in the sulky for owners Valerie Blackmore and trainer Ronald MacDonald. The son of Federal Flex journeyed first over to defeat slight favourite Parkhillkryptonite (Stephane Lareau) by one length. He also started his 2015 campaign with a streak spanning four races after going winless in four starts last year.
Gerard Demers had a training triple on the Sunday card, scoring wins with Slight Touch ($9.10), Its A Go ($3.80) and Sovereign Wealth ($4.60), but losing the first two horses from his stable in the claiming ranks. Gord Brown drove all three winners for Demers and also steered Will To Do ($6.60) for John MacMillan.
To view Sunday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Sunday Results - Rideau Carleton Raceway.