Seven-year-old pacing mare Little T kept the good times rolling at Clinton Raceway, earning her fifth straight local victory and giving Travis Henry his fifth driving win during the afternoon card on Sunday, July 13.
Little T ($2.30) retook the lead during the opening panel and led the rest of the way in the day's $3,800 eighth race for $8,000 claiming mares while turning back a challenge from rival Handbagofcheezies, a Randy Ertel-trained mare driven by Carter Gimblett that she shared one of her recent wins with in a Pop-Up Series dead-heat on June 22. Little T drew off this time by 2-3/4 lengths in the stretch to keep her streak alive, scoring in 1:58.2 as the 1-9 favourite.
Riley Simpson trains the mare by Allamerican Native out of Tiaras Bluff for owner Shen Guo of Waterloo, Ont. Little T's current streak pushed her career win count to 26 and earnings over the $150,000 mark.
Henry drove half of the day's winners, starting with a sweep of the first two races with favourites Sir Lucknow ($3.20) for trainer Paul Roberts and Fear The Dice ($5.30) for Peter Brickman. He then topped a Lindsey Kerr-trained photo finish in the fourth race with pacing mare Earlybird Special ($6.70) over favoured stablemate Tuukka Rasp. Just prior to Little T's triumph, he took the seventh race with trainer Dean Wall's homebred trotter Made Of Magic ($2.60).
Henry inflated his meet-leading win count to 15 and now has nine more wins than his closest competitor at the Clinton half-miler, Tyler Borth. The 36-year-old Embro, Ont. reinsman, who enjoyed a career year in 2024 with 395 victories and $2.5 million in earnings, has driven winners of 162 races and $1.2 million so far this year with those totals ranking among the top 10 Canadian drivers.
When Henry's winning crusade was complete, Better Than Crush ($11.70) and Lauras Crush ($16.10), both out of the Badlands Hanover mare Haute Couture, closed out the Sunday racing action with a rare sister sweep of the late Daily Double. Better Than Crush, a four-year-old mare sired by Betterthancheddar, earned her seventh career win with a two-minute mile in rein to Nick Steward for trainer Denis Kerr and owners Shelley and Jane Kerr, while her sophomore Sportswriter sister Lauras Crush won for the third time in a new mark of 1:58.1 with Dan Clements driving for trainer/driver Allan Shelton. The half siblings were bred by Brenda Shelton of Goderich, Ont., and Kim Mulvey of Fergus, Ont.
The Huron Heat Female Hockey Association raised more than $6,000 in its on-track fundraiser held on Sunday for the growth of women's hockey in Huron County.
Cinnamon and Lucas House won a miniature horse race that was contested during the day's racing as part of the track's Kids Day activities.
To view Sunday's harness racing results, click the following link: Sunday Results - Clinton Raceway.
(Standardbred Canada; photo of Little T and Travis Henry winning on July 13)