The first card of the 2021 season at Hiawatha Horse Park is in the books as the Sarnia oval was blessed with sunny skies for its 11-dash opener.
A $5,500 Preferred 3 Trot was the feature on the card, with nine trotters entered and trotting mare Soprese looming as the one to beat.
Driver Marc St. Louis, Jr. settled Soprese into third, allowing Zorgwijk Tim (Lorne House) to post solid opening fractions of :27.4 and :57.2. With Spare Seed (Scott Wray) advancing first over in front of the grandstand approaching the half, St. Louis right-lined Soprese off the pylons and started that overland journey just before the half-mile marker.
As the field straightened up down the backside, Soprese cleared to the lead and Costantino — pocket-sitter to Zorgwijk Tim — looped that legweary rival to regain the pocket through a 1:28.1 third station. With a :30.3 final quarter, Soprese was able to maintain a lead of more than two lengths on his nearest competitors and hit the wire in 1:58.4. Longshot Spare Seed went a very respectable overland trip to edge past Costantino (Garrett Rooney) for place.
Trained by Mark Goddard for Pennsylvania-based owners Howard & Joshua Kaufman, Soprese (Conway Hall - Isabella Gal) picked up her first win of 2021 and fourth lifetime. Her bankroll reached six figures with the victory, now standing at $102,496 lifetime.
Handle for the 11-race card was $22,104. Live harness racing resumes next Saturday (June 19) at Hiawatha Horse Park, continuing on a Saturday afternoon schedule through to the middle of September.
To view the results for Saturday's card, click the following link: Saturday Results - Hiawatha Horse Park.