One track record fell and another was matched during Sunday’s matinee program at Alberta Downs
.
KG Mist blew away the foes she faced in a $7,600 conditioned event for fillies and mares, and her clocking of 1:54.3 matched the track record for older pacing mares. The mark was originally set by Willyourememberme on May 2, 2009.
Rod Hennessy, who trains and drives KG Mist, was parked past the quarter pole in :27.4 with the six-year-old daughter of As Promised-Ride The Shark. She enjoyed a pocket trip behind Western Bee through middle splits of :57.1 and 1:26 before sprinting out of the hole and drawing off to win by more than six lengths in 1:54.3. Western Bee was second best and Pretty Promised was third.
Sent off as a 10-1 outside, KG Mist registered the 12th win of her career for Hennessy and partner Lorne Duffield of Edmonton, AB. The mare is just shy of $220,000 in lifetime earnings.
Clintons Escape made a magnificent late rush to take home top prize in his $6,100 conditioned assignment, and in doing so he knocked one second off the track record for three-year-old pacing geldings.
Trained and driven by Keith Clark, the son of Clintons Cigar-Emotionaliscape sat ninth for the first three-quarters of the mile while Cardiff Hanover threw down fractions of :27.4, :55.4 and 1:23.3. The leader faltered in the late stages of the mile, but Clintons Escape was just getting started.
The gelding used a :28.4 final frame to sail past all eight of his foes en route to the 1:54.4 score. Runner-up Hilldrop Shady came up a head short, with All Canadian MJJZ rounding out the top three.
Clark shares ownership on eight-time winner with fellow Albertans, Allan Neurauter of High River and George Young of Calgary. The eight-time winner now owns a 5-1-0 record this season from just six trips postward. He has banked in excess of $63,000 to date.
One Last Horse Stable’s Goodbadanddeugly N went coast-to-coast in the $10,000 Fillies & Mares Open for the tandem of driver J.F. Gagne and trainer Michael Charlton.
The eight-year-old Badlands Hanover miss led through fractions of :27.4, :58.2 and 1:28.1 before kicking out a :27.4 kicker to seal the deal in 1:56. Starring Role was second under the line and Second Fancy was third.
To view Sunday’s results, click here.