Dismissed by the bettors as a 38-1 longshot, My Friend Diaz made his return to the races after a five month layoff on Wednesday night at Grand River Raceway and won at first asking for trainer/owner Doug Lever in the evening's co-featured $7,000 Preferred 3 Pace.
Driven by Bob McClure, five-year-old My Friend Diaz was a gapped out eight lengths off the lead, sitting third at the half, before reeling in the early pacesetter and opening up three lengths en route to a 1:55.3 triumph. My Friend Diaz returned $79 to win. He pulled off the upset victory over favourite Kid Galahad N (Lorne House), who came on to place. Major Najor (Travis Henry) finished third, almost six lengths behind.
Frank Venneri's six-year-old homebred Incredable Frank romped to a 1:58.4 six length win in the matching Preferred 3 Trot. The victory was his third in 14 starts this year. Sent postward as the 4-1 second choice in the field, Incredable Frank paid $10.10 to win. Trevor Henry was in the driver's seat for O'Brien Award winning trainer Richard Moreau. Impressive (Daniel Potvin) and Euro Man (Phil Hudon) finished second and third, respectively.
My Friend Diaz's victory was the biggest upset of the night, although the class-climbing Milliondollarkevin ($78.10) wasn't far behind in winning a $10,000 claiming race with Travis Henry aboard for Vernon Cochrane and owner Florence Urban. Other double-digit longshot winners were Red Magician ($44.60) and Lookers Destiny ($27.80).
To view Wednesday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Wednesday Results - Grand River Raceway.