It was a day dedicated to the ladies at Woodstock Raceway on Tuesday, as the half-miler hosted pacing fillies and mares for the opening leg of the Oxford County Stakes
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Six splits – each worth $10,000 - went postward during today’s 12-race program, with favourites winning half of the divisional tilts.
Bruce Richardson took the first division with Chatsworth, who wired up her rivals in a career-best clocking of 2:01.2. Trainer Ian Hyatt co-owns the three-year-old Western Terror miss with Linda Hyatt and Rick North. The filly is 2-for-13 this season.
Jody Jamieson also took a “catch me if you can” approach in the second split with Take My Breathaway, who was a comfortable winner in 2:00. Mark Steacy trains the three-year-old daughter of Artsplace for partners David Reid, Dr. Malcolm Man Son Hing, George Judson and Garth Bechtel. She has put together a 3-2-2 record in her first eight starts of the campaign.
Front-stepping speed also earned Outofthefryingpan a trip to victory lane for the duo of trainer Meg Crone and driver Anthony Haughan. The three-year-old No Pan Intended miss, who is owned by that tandem, zipped home in :28.1 to post the 1:59 score. It was her fifth win of the season in 15 trips postward.
Nick Steward used the coast-to-coast approach to take the fourth division with T L Caelans Cammie, who stopped the teletimer in a career-best clocking of 1:57.3. It was the second consecutive victory and the fourth of the season for the Gerry Lamb-trained four-year-old daughter of Camluck. She is owned by Third Line Stable of London, Ontario.
Casie Coleman and Merlin Howse’s homebred, Keepers Destiny, also led from start to finish to take her division. Paul MacKenzie guided the Phil Coleman-trained three-year-old daughter of Intrepid Seelster to a 1:58.1 victory. After going unraced as a rookie, the sophomore has put together a 3-3-1 record in nine starts.
Wish N Win made it a clean sweep for the front-steppers, as she went to the top and didn’t look back en route to a 1:57.3 score for driver Trevor Henry and trainer Jim Watt. It was the quickest clocking to date for Morag Watt’s three-year-old Intrepid Seelster miss, who is 2-for-9 this season after going 1-for-3 in her rookie campaign.
Continuing on the female theme – and the front-end theme - Victim Of Love steamrolled to a 1:55.3 triumph in the featured $17,500 Fillies & Mares Preferred Pace for the team of driver Trevor Henry and trainer Wayne Preszcator. The four-year-old daughter of No Pan Intended hammered out splits of :28.2, :57.3 and 1:26.4 before storming home in :28.4 to prevail by a length over Shami Cami. Just Her Way took home the show dough.
The career winner of $179,435 is now a nine-time winner for Bulletproof Enterprises of Boca Raton, Florida.
To view Tuesday’s harness racing results, click here.