With the majority of the attention on divisional standouts Hottieonthehorizon and Rockin Mystery, Mrs Suhwiggins picked the perfect time to best both of those rivals for the first time en route to victory in the $45,700 Alberta Diamond Final for Alberta-sired three-year-old pacing fillies on Saturday (July 13) at Century Downs.
Saddled with the trailing post nine, Paul Davies hustled Mrs Suhwiggins away aggressively and landed in fourth as favourites Rockin Mystery (Brandon Campbell) and Hottieonthehorizon (Kelly Hoerdt) sprinted away from the field for early command. Rockin Mystery got the lead, pocketing Hottieonthehorizon through a sharp :27.4 final quarter from post seven. Campbell then relaxed the pace and stole a second quarter breather, hitting the halfway point in :58.3.
Summer Fantasy (Mike Hennessy) began the outer flow, flushing Mrs Suhwiggins from fourth at the midway mark. Davies gave Mrs Suhwiggins the cue to pace on, and she did despite the advantage looking to be on the side of the temposetter. With a stout attack down the backside, Mrs Suhwiggins cleared before the third panel of 1:26 and then repelled all challengers with a :29 closer to win by two lengths in 1:55.3, matching her lifetime best. Summer Fantasy held off a hard-closing Paloma Ruiz (Jacob Cutting) for second. Favoured Hottieonthehorizon got caught behind Rockin Mystery, tried to maneuver through horses in the stretch but couldn't find room. She finished fifth.
Trained by Amy Henry for J J J Stables of Prince George, B.C., Mrs Suhwiggins picked up her third win of the yearin eight starts. The winner's share of the purse vaulted her career earnings to $113,700.
Big Shir was large and in charge in the $9,000 Fillies & Mares Open on the undercard, tipping off the cover of first-over challenger Cusdmagicdragon (Hoerdt) at the head of the stretch to best pace-setting favourite Born A Dragon (Keith Clark) in 1:54.2. Born A Dragon and Scardy Cat (Campbell) completed the triactor.
Chris Lancaster trains and co-owns Big Shir (Mister Big - Shirley Hall) along with Derek Gilbert of Brandon, Man. and Chris Lambie of Rockyview County, Alta. The eight-year-old pacing mare has only finished out of the top three once since shifting east to Alberta from Fraser Downs in early April.
To view the results from Saturday's card of harness racing at Century Downs, click the following link: Saturday Results - Century Downs.