Grey Sea made waves in the $12,500 Fillies & Mares Preferred Pace on Friday, May 24 at Century Downs as she pull off 39-1 upset in rein to Tyler Redwood.
Making his first appearance in the sulky since early January, Redwood kept trailing tier starter Grey Sea on the back of insider Outlaw Allie Oops (Mike Hennessy) with last week's Mares Preferred winner Outlaw Sharktastic (Nathan Sobey) leaving for the top spot and In High Cotton (Kelly Hoerdt) parked from the far outside through a :27.3 quarter before she cleared to the command.
After landing in fourth through the early going, Redwood sent Grey Sea first-over turning into the backstretch as In High Cotton hit the half in :56.3. Grey Sea caught the leader midway down the backside and took over the lead, reaching three-quarters in 1:25.2, with 8-5 favourite If Only Id Known (Phil Giesbrecht) advancing first-over and Stash The Cookies (John Chappell) looming second-over before swinging three-wide for the stretch drive.
With those mares making late gains, Redwood kept Grey Sea clear of their rivals through the stretch to score in 1:55 flat over the 'good' track. Stash The Cookies came on for second, finishing 1-1/2 lengths behind the winner, while If Only Id Known held on for third over Outlaw Sharktastic in a photo for show.
After finishing sixth off a three-week layoff in her Alberta return in the Mares Preferred last Friday, Grey Sea paid a whopping $80.10 for the upset.
A 10-time winner last year, the five-year-old Custard The Dragon-Preference mare earned her second victory of the season to go along with seven other top three finishes in her 11 starts this year. Grey Sea has won 16 of her 38 races and $121,200 lifetime for trainer Gord Abbott and owner/breeder Seaspray Stables Ltd. of Nanaimo, B.C. Those connections also scored in the Friday opener with four-year-old mare Crown Princess ($8.60), driven by Tyson Jacoby to a 1:56.3 victory.
Brandon Campbell, who had been out of action since early April with an injury, made his own triumphant return to the sulky with his trainee Metaki ($7.40) holding on in 1:55.3 in the second race for $20,000 claiming filly and mare pacers. Campbell completed a training triple on the 12-race card with a sweep of the late Daily Double. He drove Skys Little Spunk ($4.30) to win by nearly 10 lengths in 1:54.1 then Yenoh Who ($6.30) took the finale in 1:56.3 with Mike Hennessy in the bike.
To view Friday's harness racing results, click the following link: Friday Results - Century Downs.
(Standardbred Canada)