The front end was the place to be as the 2019 stakes season kicked off at Century Downs on Saturday (May 4) with the Moores Mile for three-year-old pacing fillies.
Lady Neigh Neigh stayed perfect as a sophomore, winning her $20,000 Moores Mile split in 1:57.1. Brandon Campbell engineered the victory, a gate-to-wire performance for trainer-owner Chris Lancaster and co-owner Christopher Lambie of Airdrie, Alta. Gin Twist (James Jungquist) fought valiantly to finish second after a late bid but fell a half-length shy of the winner, with pocket-sitting Maxsamian (David Kelly) unable to close on the leader and finishing third.
In 13 career starts, Lady Neigh Neigh (Bettors Delight - Santinos Rosa) sports a 8-0-1 summary with more than $85,000 in earnings.
Seeing the shortest distance to the wire worked wonders in the first division, Mike Hennessy gave Stash The Cookies a similar steer in the second split and the result was the same: a gate-to-wire win, with a half-length to spare. After leading through fractions of :29.4, 1:00 and 1:29.2, a :29.2 final panel was enough to seal the deal over pocket-popping Bearcat Romi (Jamie Gray) for the 1:58.4 victory. Outlaw Allie Oops (Keith Clark) showed pace late for show honours.
Trained by Rod Hennessy, who co-owns the daughter of Sunfire Blue Chip - Saucy B along with Lorne Duffield of Edmonton, Alta., Stash The Cookies has also stashed away $15,864 in her four sophomore starts. That's $3,000 more than she banked in twice as many starts as a freshman.
The victory was one of three on the program for trainer Rod Hennessy and one of four for driver Michael Hennessy. Rod and Mike joined forces to win with Summer Fantasy (2:00) and Thats It (1:56). Michael's other triumph was celebrated with the Richard Schneider-trained Lookslikewemadeit (1:58.3).
For the results from Century's Saturday card, click the following link: Saturday Results - Century Downs.