Outlawguns N Roses blazed a trail to victory as she wired eight foes in the $56,900 final of the Alberta Sires Stakes Alberta Diamond Series for three-year-old pacing fillies.
The brown daughter of Captive Audience served notice that she came to play as soon as the gate swung away, clearing the two rivals to her immediate inside, even-money favourite Over Ice (Philip Giesbrecht) and Byby Baby Byby (Michael Hennessy) at the entry to the first turn. Those three were 1-2-3 through an opening quarter of :27.2 and a half-mile timed in :56.4.
On the approach to three-quarters, Over Ice went first over to challenge the leader, who promptly rebuffed the mild threat from the favourite while posting a three-quarter clocking of 1:25.4. It was smooth sailing from that point as driver Dave Kelly guided Outlawguns N Roses to a 10-length victory in a seasonal best 1:52.4.
Outlawguns N Roses is out of the Cams Card Shark mare Gunslingin Gal and was bred by Outlaw Stable of Falun, Alta. Trainer Rod Starkewski of Lamont, Alta. co-owns the filly with Clauzette Byckal of Onoway, Alta Outlawguns N Roses paid $4.80 to win as the 7-5 second choice, and is now three-for-three in 2024, with seven wins in 12 lifetime starts and total earnings of $132,490.
The $12,500 Preferred Pace on the Saturday card was also a speed show as Michael Hennessy guided Blue Star Mercury to a 6-1 score from post seven. Icy Blue Scooter (Nathan Sobey) took advantage of post one to take the early lead. That lead was short-lived as Blue Star Mercury took over at the end of the first eighth, leading the field through early fractions of :27.1 and :56.1. Blue Star Mercury was pressured by No Collusion (Brandon Campbell) on the way to three-quarters. After reaching that station in 1:24.3, Blue Star Mercury shook off No Collusion and held off Icy Blue Scooter, who scooted up the passing lane only to come up a nose short. Mylittle Gingerman (Kelly Hoerdt) was third. The final time was 1:53.2.
Blue Star Mercury is a four-year-old bay gelding by Mystician out of the Rocknroll Hanover mare Lucky Lucka. The win is the second in a row for this gelding, third in nine starts in 2024 and ninth in 34 lifetime starts. In eking out the win, Blue Star Mercury rewarded his backers with a $14.10 payout and upped his bankroll to $149,362. Rod Hennessy trains Blue Star Mercury for owners Lorne Duffield of Edmonton and Jean Crochetiere of Beaumont, Alta.
Earlier on the card, the second $12,500 elimination of the Alberta Marksman was conducted after the race was declared a no contest one week ago. One Hot Minute took a bit more than a minute to deliver on his 7-5 favouritism, but his performance was closer to a 1-9 winner.
In his second card of racing since returning from injury, trainer Brandon Campbell handled the controls on the son of Westwardho Hanover-One Hot Majorette. The duo cleared to the top through the opening turn from post six, then played a cruel game of 'catch me if you can' from there. The first quarter was the slowest, reached in a half minute, and then the fractions got faster from there. A :59.3 half was followed by a 1:27.2 third station, and it became clear that One Hot Minute was just toying with the competition. Sprinting home in :28.3, One Hot Minute broke his maiden impressively, winning by nearly six lengths in a time of 1:56.
Rememberthecustard (Mike Hennessy) was next best with One More Rocky (Logan Gillis) and YYC On The Horizon (Jamie Gray) completing the top four advancers to next week's final.
One Hot Minute is a homebred owned by Jodi Loftus of Calgary and Timothy Kane of St. Albert, Alta. His first win came in his seventh start and lifted his purse earnings to $11,769.
To view Saturday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Saturday Results - Century Downs.
(Standardbred Canada)