Clintons Escape was forced to overcome an early bodycheck en route to taking home top prize in Sunday’s $55,100 final of the Alberta Plainsman
at Alberta Downs, and that was music to the ears of the favourite players who sent him off as the 3-2 choice in the eight-horse affair.
In rein to trainer Keith Clark, Clintons Escape settled into sixth in the early stages of the race while Barona Ice supplied rolled the field to the quarter pole in :27.2. On the way to the half Campasser, who was sitting fourth, made a break and caused a fair bit of confusion to the backfield. Clintons Escape was one of the pacers impeded by the breaker, but it still wasn’t enough to knock him out of contention.
Instead, he moved improved to be fourth at the mid-way point while Barona Ice had backed down the pace to a :57.1 clip. Barona Ice was still the leader at the three-quarter pole in 1:24.1, but Clintons Escape and trainer/driver Keith Clark were knocking on the door. Clark and his gelding brushed to the top at the head of the lane and used a :28.4 final quarter to stop the clock in 1:53.2 – lowering his own track record by two-fifths of a second. Barona Ice was 3-1/4 lengths back in second, while Flak Jacket took home the show dough.
Clintons Escape, a homebred son of Clintons Cigar-Emotionaliscape who owned by Clark, Allan Neurauter and George Young, pushed his win streak to four-in-a-row and improved his 2010 record to 7-1-0 in eight attempts. The pacer is 10-for-15 to date and he has banked more than $97,000 along the way.
The victory was one of three on the afternoon program for trainer/driver Keith Clark.
Wrangler Hitech also entered his name into the track record book on Sunday afternoon thanks to his 1:53.2 tally in the $10,000 Open Pace. The four-year-old son of As Promised laid down splits of :27.2, :57.1 and 1:24.2 for trainer/driver Keith Clark en route to the 1:53.2 victory over Neal Diamonique and Smart Shark.
Clark, who shares ownership on the gelding with Robert Jones and Peter Giannakopoulos, mapped out the record-setting mile for the pacer who shaved one-fifth of a second off the former track standard of 1:53.3 set by Hilldrop Shady on June 13.
Acemor also turned in a record-setting performance at Alberta Downs on Sunday thanks to his 1:56.4 upset for trainer/driver J.F. Gagne in a $4,700 conditioned assignment. The three-year-old colt, who is owned by Greg Martin of Calgary, AB, erupted for a 46-1 shocker en route to knocking more than one second off the former track standard of 1:58 set by True Mystic on June 13.
It was the first win of the season and the second lifetime tally for the son of Camystic, who upped his earnings to $22,655 in the process.
To view Sunday’s results, click here.