Gia Diamond tracked the cover of favourite Top Royal and then swept by down the stretch to win Wednesday's featured $10,000 Fillies & Mares Preferred 2 Handicap at The Raceway at Western Fair District.
Riding her winning momentum from April, Gia Diamond was victorious in her move up in class for driver Travis Henry, trainer Richard Moreau and owner La Ferme Drummond Inc. of Saint-Hugues, Que.
With the inside post advantage in the field scratched down to five, Sr Beach Babe (J Harris) established the lead while outside leaver Miss Coco Luck (Billy Davis Jr.) settled into the pocket through a 28-second opening panel. Even-money favourite Top Royal (Robert Shepherd) made her move from mid-pack at the :57.4 half-mile mark and confronted the pacesetter down the backstretch, ultimately edging ahead by the 1:26.2 third quarter mark. Meanwhile, Gia Diamond and Henry tracked the live cover then rallied three-wide turning for home to sweep past the duelling leaders in the stretch. She prevailed by three-quarters of a length ahead of Top Royal in 1:55.3, with Sr Beach Babe two lengths back in third. Miss Coco Luck finished fourth while Katherine B (Nick Steward) completed the field.
Gia Diamond has now won back-to-back starts for her current connections, who claimed the American Ideal mare three wins back on April 13 at Mohawk Racetrack for $10,000. That was Gia Diamond's third barn change during her five-year-old campaign in which she has won half of her 14 starts while banking $27,872. Lifetime, she has earned 16 wins and more than $90,000 in purses.
Sent postward at odds of 7-2, Gia Diamond returned $9.70 to win.
One race prior in the $7,500 Preferred 3 sub-feature, four-year-old Mach Three mare More Than Many was victorious in wire-to-wire fashion with Billy Davis Jr. in the bike for trainer Glenn Lalonde and owner Herbert Szauerzopf of Moffat, Ont. The 4-5 race favourite notched her fifth win of the year as she defeated Eat Me (J Harris) up by two lengths in 1:57.2, with Solid Queen (Garrett Rooney) rounding out the top three order.
To view Wednesday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Wednesday Results - Western Fair.
For the official judges' report from Wednesday's card, click the following link: Judges' Report - Western Fair - May 3.