Outlawsurshotshark and Jet Blue Burner gave trainer/driver Travis Cullen a stakes double while Monstrous delivered for conditioner Darryl Cutting in Saturday afternoon's Wild Rose events for three-year-old pacing fillies at Century Downs.
Outlawsurshotshark made her stakes debut a winning one in the opening $14,000 division for Cullen, his father Ron and the Don Byrne Stables Inc.
The 6-5 favourite began to advance from sixth-place in front of the grandstand and applied first over pressure to second choice Lucky Lucka (Kelly Hoerdt), who had forged to front over first turn breaker Whisper Well (Brad Watt) and maintained the lead through panels of :28.3, :58.2 and 1:27.1. However, Outlawsurshotshark was able to gain the upper hand in the stretch and defeated Lucky Lucka by half a length in 1:57.1. Ba Bye Ceia Later (Mike Hennessy) finished over two lengths behind off a pocket trip.
The win was the fourth in a row for Outlawsurshotshark, who went unraced as a two-year-old. The streaking Smart Shark-Fox Valley Cherish filly now has eight career wins from 12 starts and earnings totalling $35,420.
Warren Fuller's homebred filly Monstrous earned her second straight stakes title following up her Bev Sears upset win by taking the second division of the Wild Rose.
With Ed Hensley driving for the Cutting stable, 1-2 favourite Monstrous trailed the six-horse field early on before picking up cover from second choice Brighten Your Life (Kelly Hoerdt) into the backstretch. Hensley fanned Monstrous three-wide coming off the final turn and she went by Brighten Your Life in the stretch to win by one length in 1:58.2. Outlawtriggerhappy (Bill Tainsh Jr.), who had fronted the field through fractions of :29.1, :59.1 and 1:28.2, finished over four lengths back in third.
A daughter of Allamerican Navajo out of Hoosier Pam, Monstrous is now riding a three-race win streak and boasts a career resume reading 4-4-2 from 11 starts with her bankroll climbing to $62,839.
Jet Blue Burner brought Cullen back to the winner's circle following her victory in the third division of the Wild Rose. Cullen also shares ownership of this Blue Burner-Blinkanyoumissit filly with his mother Jodie and partners Keith Hannah and Dwayne Taylor.
Sent postward as the 8-5 favourite, Jet Blue Burner settled away fourth before moving second over near the third quarter mark and then rallying out wide to take aim at pacesetter Divas Dragonfly. The 2-1 second choice Divas Dragonfly had led the field through fractions of :29.4, :59.3 and 1:28, and rebuffed the challenge of first over Cenalta Artistry (Rene Goulet), but could not hold off Jet Blue Burner in the stretch. Jet Blue Burner prevailed over Divas Dragonfly by half a length in 1:58.1 while Top It Up (Dave Kelly) closed well for third-place honours.
Jet Blue Burner, who is now two-for-four in her sophomore season, has won six of her 10 career starts while banking $51,485.
In this week's $10,000 Fillies & Mares Open, former Wild Rose division winner Skade went wire-to-wire (:29.2, 1:00, 1:29.3, 1:57.1), holding off the popular pocket-puller Sing Like An Angel (Travis Cullen) by a quarter-length. Brandon Campbell drove the six-year-old Dragon Again-Pucker Up mare, who is now two-for-two since being claimed for $18,750 at the end of May by Raymond Henry and joining the stable of Campbell's father, Sanford Campbell. Nighttraintovegas (Nathan Sobey) tipped first over in the final quarter, but maintained her position to finish third.
To view Saturday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Saturday Results - Century Downs.