Grand River Raceway hosted the fifth preliminary leg of the Slots Cup Series on Friday night with Lookin For A Fight and Uncle Bill Mac taking their respective $12,000 divisions
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Lookin For A Fight and Paul MacKenzie dominated the opening division as they left from Post 3 and carved out fractions of :28.3, :58 and 1:26 en route to a 1:54.1 score, equaling his season's mark. The four-year-old gelded son of Cammibest-Shes A Looker maintained at least a two length lead on the field while Western Senator (Jason Brewer) followed in second. Off The Schneid (Dean Wall) finished back in third.
Lookin For A Fight was the 5-2 second choice and paid $7.30 to win. Tammey McEneny trains the winner of six races in 18 starts this year for owner-breeder V M B Stable of Hamilton, ON. Lookin For A Fight won two of his previous Slot Cup divisions at Flamboro on July 3 and Western Fair on April 16, finishing third in another leg at Hanover on May 29.
Race favourite Justalittleluck (Trevor Henry), a winner of three Slots Cup divisions, made an early break and was unable to catch the field.
The even-money favourite in the second split had better luck as he rallied from off the pace to score in 1:55.2, equaling his season's and life's mark. Uncle Bill Mac and Trevor Henry got away fourth from Post 3 and watched Doug And Dude (Ryan Holliday) put away the parked out Seymour Dinomyte (Dean Wall) as he raced past panels of :27.2, :55.4 and 1:25.
As the field approached the third quarter mark, Stonehouse I J (Mike Horner) advanced first up from fifth while Uncle Bill Mac picked up his cover before sweeping three-wide and sprinting home to win by a half-length. Great Luck (Doug McNair) pulled the pocket in the stretch to get up for second over the pacesetter, who finished two lengths behind in third.
Uncle Bill Mac returned $4.20 to win. The four-year-old son of Rambaran-Am I In Trouble is trained by Blake MacIntosh for owner Stuart McIntosh of Essex, ON. It was his third win in 18 starts this season. The gelding finished second in his last three divisions of the Slots Cup at Flamboro, Hanover and Clinton on May 2.
The series, for Ontario sired pacers that are four years old or younger and non-winners of $75,000 lifetime as of January 15, will head to Georgian Downs on Saturday, August 14 for the final preliminary round. Hiawatha Horse Park with host the $75,000 (added) final on Saturday, September 11.
To view Friday’s results, click here.