Century Lucifer delivered as expected in the $6,000 Preferred 3 Handicap Pace on Saturday, June 13 at Hanover Raceway.
As second choice Wild Doc Holliday (Damien MacLellan) tried to see it through on the front end, Century Lucifer had different plans. After a :29.3 first quarter, Wild Doc Holliday hit the half in 1:00.2 with favoured Century Lucifer and driver Bruce Richardson on the attack first up.
Those two pacers traded blows down the backside, with Wild Doc Holliday holding the advantage at the 1:29.2 third station. As the pacers turned for home, MacLellan popped the plugs on Wild Doc Holliday but the devil was in the details: Century Lucifer had more pep in his step and hit the wire a half length the best in a 1:59 mile. Ys Delight (Mark MacDonell) closed from the back of the pack to finish third.
A four-year-old son of Shadow Play-Exotic Pleasure, Century Lucifer is trained by Rene Dion for his S&R Racing Stable Inc., of Acton, Ont., Marc Trudeau of St Sauveur, Que., SMS Ventures Inc. of Montreal, Que. and M And L Of Delaware LLC of Wilmington, De. That's the third win of the season and eighth lifetime tally, bumping his earnings to $217,936 lifetime. He returned $4.60 to win.
Saturday's card of harness racing also featured three $8,000 divisions in Leg 2A of the Prospect Series for three-year-old pacing fillies. Troublewithmaggie ($2.90) prevailed by a head in the first division for driver Mark MacDonell, trainer Carl Jamieson and breeder-owner Greg Hayter of Mitchell, Ont. to stay perfect in two career appearances.
Playsomethingsweet ($3.30) delivered the fastest Prospect win of the afternoon, a 1:58.3 score as the 3-5 choice. J Harris engineered the winning effort for trainer Paul Cameron and owners Paul & Jayme Cameron of Guelph and Arnolds Horse Shack of Mississauga, Ont.
Favourites swept the Prospect splits after Amazing Addy ($3.50) recovered from a break in her last appearance to deliver a 2:00.3 winning effort for driver Jason Ryan, trainer John Pentland and owner Hutt Racing Stable of Malvern, Pa.
Trainer Jacob Roberts started the day with a victory courtesy Sake Bomb (1:59.2; $3.90), ended the day in the winner's circle with Sir Lucknow (2:02; $20.30) and picked up another win in the seventh thanks to Allstar Willow (2:01; $7.60) for the training triple. All of Roberts' Saturday starters picked up cheques, with his horses finished only first or fifth on the afternoon (3-0-0-0-3). The Fergus, Ont.-based conditioner now sports 154 career victories with nearly $1.2 million in purses.
For the full results from Saturday's card of harness racing in Hanover, click the following link: Saturday Results - Hanover Raceway.
(Standardbred Canada)