The J P Stables' All Charged Up made all the pace en route to a 1:51.2 triumph in Thursday evening's featured $8,500 Mares Open Pace at Vernon Downs, and the 50¢ Pick 5 yielded a dividend of $3,044.75, the highest to date for the new offering at the Miracle Mile.
Trainer-driver John MacDonald wasted no time with All Charged Up, sprinting clear from midfield to clear Keene Olivia (Chris Lems) through a :26.3 first quarter before easing the tempo down through middle splits of :56 and 1:23.2. At no point did the five-year-old Ponder mare face any pressure, in fact edging away off the far turn to amass four length clearance on Keene Olivia. While Keene Olivia laboured amid her chase, Love Live Laugh (Jimmy Whittemore) mounted a bid to take second in mid-stretch, checking in 2-3/4 lengths in arrears of All Charged Up in the end. Keene Olivia was third.
For MacDonald, the win was one of two on the night. Chris Lems led all drivers with a hat trick on the 10-race card.
While favourites accounted for the last three winners in the night's 50¢ Pick 5 sequence, a 15-1 last-to-first upset by Tiger Boudoir (Truman Gale) in the first leg buoyed a $3,044.75 dividend. The Vernon Pick 5 is offered on the last five races of each card.
While an 11-race Friday card is slated for a 6:45 p.m. post time, top New York-sired three-year-old trotting colts and geldings will converge on the Miracle Mile on Saturday evening in a pair of $61,300 New York Sire Stakes events. Allerage Echo (Jim Morrill, Jr.) and Smalltownthrowdown (Dan Daley), first and second in last year's $225,000 New York Sire Stakes final, renew their rivalry in the sixth-race first division, while eight-time winner Dayson (Morrill) and Dexter Cup winner Dante (Oskar Florhed) headline the eighth-race second division.
(Vernon Downs)