The first full season of harness racing at Alberta Downs will kick off this weekend with a pair of 10-race matinee cards.
Saturday’s program will feature a $10,000 Open Pace with the Gerry Hudon entry of Timberline Court and Kiawah assessed as the even-money favourites in the morning line. Timberline Court, a five-year-old With Held gelding who is assigned the inside post position, will look to extend his win streak to four with Hudon in the bike. John Baxter will sit behind Kiawah, a six-year-old son of Western Ideal, and the pair will leave from Post 2.
On Sunday, filly and mare open pacers will face off in the $10,000 eighth race feature. Looking for her first win of the year, Goodbadanddeugly N will make her first start for trainer Michael Charlton. She is chosen as the 2-1 favourite and will leave from Post 2 with J.F. Gagne in the bike. The eight-year-old Badlands Hanover mare will race for a claiming price tag of $31,250.
The Cams Card Shark mare Starring Role, who finished second in her two previous starts at Northlands, and will look for her third win of the season for trainer and part-owner Dan Sifert. Brandon Campbell will drive the five-year-old mare, assessed at odds of 4-1 in the morning line. The Post 6 starter is apart of a special feature this year in which her seasonal earnings will benefit a variety of local charities, including Pretty In Pink, a group raising money to fight women’s cancers.
“Is there ever a lot of horses here,” said Alberta Downs owner Robert Allen in an article on albertalocalnews.com.
The facility is still in need of at least $1 million worth of work, according to Allen, but the lounge and main grandstand areas are ready. And while additional revenue from slots would help to finance the facility, Allen told albertalocalnews.com that he has pretty much given up on achieving approval from the Alberta Liquor and Gaming Commission.
The 50-day racing season at the one-mile track in Lacombe, AB, will offer purses of more than $900,000 and feature the $75,000 Breeders Stakes for fillies and the matching Brad Gunn Stakes for colts on July 25.
Starting May 17, Alberta Downs will add Monday’s to their racing schedule, also with a 1 p.m. start time, and simulcasting will be available at tracks across Canada and the U.S.
"Fraser, Hastings, London, Yonkers and Vernon Downs - quite a bit of people are taking it, mostly on Mondays," Fred Gillis, executive director of the Alberta Standardbred Horse Association, told thehorses.com.
Click on the following links for free TrackIT program pages for Saturday and Sunday.
(With files from thehorses.com and albertalocalnews.com)