Two-year-old trotters Its Not My Vault and Seeme Zoom won their career debuts in the Prospect Series during an eventful evening on Friday, July 12 at Grand River Raceway.
The fillies were up first in their $8,000 division and driver Colin Kelly got 3-5 favourite Not My Vault ($3.50) up in the final strides to collar race leader Howmac Glider for the 2:02.3 victory after moving underway from fourth on the backstretch and closing in :28.4. Shesamanalishi finished 3-1/4 lengths behind in third. Kim Baxter trains and co-owns the victorious Winbak Farm-bred filly by The Bank out of Moms Apple Pie.
Zooming to the lead from the inside post for driver J Harris, 2-1 favourite Seeme Zoom ($6.10) romped to a 2:00.4 victory in the male trot, leaving his rivals half a dozen lengths behind when his closest rival broke stride off the final turn. Trained by Lacey McCabe, the homebred Alarm Detector-Okayzoomer gelding is owned by Glenview Livestock and Cheryl Cherry. Massedonia and Capitalist were the best of the rest, finishing second and third, respectively.
Between the harness races, Wiener Dogs invaded the Elora, Ont. oval for the track's most attended event of the year. Chorizo, a three-year-old mini Dachshund, won the title of Top Dog at Grand River Raceway’s 2024 Wiener Dog Races presented by Dreamland Pet. Chorizo even took home the Dreamland Pet People’s Choice Award, voted on by the community.
A two-time competitor at the event, Chorizo is described as a huge cuddler and loves when mommy and daddy ask him for "besitos," which means "little kisses" and gives a lot of them.
Thirty dachshunds of varying breeds and ages, paws-itively delighted the fans as they scurried towards, or away, from the finish line. Some pups crossed the finish line while others decided to take a different route.
The finalists earned their spots in the championship by finishing in the top three of three elimination heats. There was fierce competition between returning veterans, past champions and new competitors this year.
In this race, the “wiener” takes it all, but other su-paw-stars are the second and third-place finishers. Second place went to the adorable Hershey, also a returning competitor, and third place went to sweet Calvin. In the end, all the pups were wagging their tails and having a ball.
“This has been an amazing night, we had so much fun,” said Tori Hadfield, Team Leader, Dreamland Pet. “We appreciated being a part of this popular event. Congratulations to all the dogs!”
Emceed by Tianna Brown, the event included a ticketed VIP area in the Captain’s Quarters and presenting sponsor Dreamland Pet had a booth for guests to take home treats for their furry friend. Grand River Raceway sold exclusive Wiener Dog baseball hats while The GrandWay BBQ was cooking up hotdogs and burgers and three food trucks stopped by.
To view Friday's harness racing results, click the following link: Friday Results - Grand River Raceway.
(Standardbred Canada and Grand River Raceway)