Ideal Perception, the aged pacing track record-holder at Grand River Raceway, crushed his rivals in the $11,000 Horses & Geldings Preferred 2 Pace as he returned to the Elora oval on Monday, June 9.
The American Ideal-Southwind Siren stallion rebuffed Arties Ideal (Samuel Fillion) and Reign Supreme (Daryl Thiessen) going into the first turn to defend his pylon positioning in a :26 opening quarter. Ideal Perception took a breather to the half in :55.1 and was on cruise control for Travis Henry until Reign Supreme, who was parked the mile, ranged up to challenge at three-quarters in 1:23.3. Henry stepped on the gas at that point, and Ideal Perception stormed away from the field on the final turn. He took a 2-1/2-length advantage into the stretch and coasted home to a 1:51.3 victory by 4-1/4 lengths.
Sometime Somewhere (Jason Ryan) surged from last on the homeward turn to get up for place over pocket-tripper Arties Ideal.
Ideal Perception posted his fifth win of the season for trainer Tony Beaton and owner Lisa Lefort of Waterdown. The eight-year-old has tallied 38 career victories in 169 career starts and has raked in $445,954 in earnings. He returned $6.50 to win.
In the opener, Stag Royal tied the track record for an aged pacing mare with tough front-end performance. The four-year-old daughter of Stag Party-Royal Dew left hard and drove on for Jeff Hunt into the first turn to take the lead from post five. She cut fractions of :26.3, :56, and 1:23.2, fending off the first-over Charlotte Station (Paul MacKenzie) in the third quarter, and she neutralized pocket-sitter Whiskey Blue Chip (Mario Baillargeon) down the stretch to score in 1:52.1. Whiskey Blue Chip was three-quarters of a length back in second, followed by Charlotte Station.
The mile equaled the record of Fated Fire, who set it last year after the Grand River track was reconfigured to a five-eighths.
Stag Royal, owned and trained by Kenneth Skinner of Acton, is now eight-for-43 lifetime with $67,147 in earnings. The mare took a new career mark with the track record-tying performance. Monday’s win was her second of the season.
To view Monday’s harness racing results, click the following link: Monday Results – Grand River Raceway.
(Standardbred Canada)