Trainer Kelly Hoerdt swept the exacta with In High Cotton and Century Mach just a half-length apart as they crossed the wire in Friday evening's featured $12,000 Fillies & Mares Preferred Handicap Pace at Century Downs.
Leaving from the outside post six, In High Cotton (Phil Giesbrecht) cleared stablemate Century Mach (Brandon Campbell) into a :26.3 opening quarter then set middle splits of :55.2 and 1:23 with pressure mounting from the Nathan Sobey-trained and reined Outlaw Sharktastic, who tracked the Hoerdt trainees in third before going head-to-head with the pacesetter turning for home. But In High Cotton kept Outlaw Sharktastic at bay through the stretch for the 1:52.2 victory while Century Mach rallied outside to get up for second in the three-across finish.
In High Cotton was the beaten favourite in her last start at Century Downs two weeks ago, closing late to finish second in the Mares Preferred class. Sent postward at odds of 6-1 this time out, she returned $15 to win and led a $45.30 exacta with her stablemate Century Mach, the 5-2 second choice to even-money Sobey starter Grey Sea (Mike Hennessy), who had too much ground to make up from the backfield.
In High Cotton started her five-year-old campaign competing in the Mares Open class at Fraser Downs and ended that meet with a track record-tying victory in 1:51.4 earlier this month. She now has six wins from 15 starts this season for Hoerdt and partners Blair and Erna Corbeil. Lifetime, the daughter of Somebeachsomewhere has won 15 races and $172,167 in purses.
Hoerdt also sent out winners Ontheroadtotexas (Campbell) and Rockingtherepublic (Giesbrecht) to complete a training triple on the 10-race card.
To view Friday's harness racing results, click the following link: Friday Results - Century Downs.