Veteran trotter Ghirardelli Lindy and driver Richard Simard were first off the gate and first across the wire in the Sunday night's co-featured $8,550 Preferred Handicap Trot at Rideau Carleton Raceway.
Stepping up off a victory in a conditioned trot one week ago at Rideau, Ghirardelli Lindy fronted the field of Preferred rivals through fractions of :28, :57.3 and 1:26.1 en route to a 1:55.4 victory by one and a half lengths. Y S Suzanne (Stephane Brosseau) came on for second over pocket pursuer Windsun Hugo (Jonathan Lachance).
Ghirardelli Lindy returned $13.30 to his backers at the betting windows. Trained by Robert Dube, the nine-year-old gelded son of Chocolatier now has two wins and two seconds from eight starts this year for owner Saul Mendelson of Montreal. He sports 31 victories on his lifetime resume and is closing in on $200,000 in earnings.
Sent off as the 4-5 favourite in the $8,250 pacing feature, Stonebridge Beach delivered on his pari-mutuel promise prevailing off a pocket trip in rein to trainer/driver Stephane Pouliot.
Leaving from post five, the five-year-old son of Mach Three gave way to Windsun Cheyenne (Stephane Brosseau) at the :27 quarter mark and followed the new leader through middle splits of :55.1 and 1:23.4 before sweeping by in the stretch to score in 1:52.1. Windsun Cheyenne settled for the runner-up role, finishing one and a quarter lengths behind, while Arazi (Louis-Philippe Roy) followed in third.
After just missing by a nose in last week's Preferred, Stonebridge Beach paid $3.70 to win as the bettors' choice. He now sports a 2-2-1 record this year from eight on-track appearances for owners 9096 9205 Quebec Inc. and Meadowgem Farm Inc. The victory was his 14th lifetime putting his earnings just under $390,000.
To view Sunday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Sunday Results - Rideau Carleton Raceway.