All three winners of the Emerald Filly Stakes turned in track record performances on Saturday afternoon (July 23) at Century Downs, but it was Nightime Chase who ended the day with her winning time still standing as the fastest for a two-year-old filly pacer after a 1:56.1 victory in the final $16,667 division.
Prior to Saturday's stakes, the track record for two-year-old pacing fillies was 1:57.4, established by Jet Blue Burner in the 2015 Neal Adler Memorial last September. In the afternoon's opener, Last Time To Play lowered that record by four-fifths of a second.
Leading from start to finish, post two starter and 1-2 favourite Last Time To Play carved out fractions of :29, 1:00 and 1:28.1 en route to a three and one-quarter length victory in 1:57 flat for trainer/driver Serge Masse. Cardinal Rule (Travis Bowman) closed inside from the back of the six-filly field to finish second over pocket-puller Perfect Mystery (Preston Shaw) and Triple Thick Shake (Gerry Hudon).
Last Time To Play paid $3 to win. The Western Terror-Susurrus Hanover filly, who was a $40,000 Lexington Select Yearling Sale purchase, has now earned three (consecutive) wins from four starts for owner Lucy Raymond of Edmonton, Alta.
Outlaw Fireball went from last to first in the second division, matching Last Time To Play's winning time of 1:57 flat.
Outlaw Fireball and driver J.F. Gagne trailed the field of half a dozen early on while Tick Tick Kaboom (David Hudon) battled past Badlands Palace (Gerry Hudon) during a contested :28.1 first quarter. From there, 4-5 favourite Shesamysterytome (Ryan Grundy) swept by down the backstretch with Badlands Palace moving back out to challenge heading by the half-mile mark in :58.3. Badlands Palace eventually retreated to the pocket as Shesamysterytome raced on to three-quarters in 1:27, but Outlaw Fireball was on the move down the backstretch and tracked down the favourite in front of the grandstand with her final quarter clocked in :28.2. Shesamysterytome finished one and a half lengths behind in second-place while Badlands Palace was third.
Outlaw Fireball paid $15.80 to win as the 6-1 third wagering choice. Marjorie Dumont trains the Blue Burner-Watchasgirlsgoby filly, who broke her maiden in her second career start and first outing since being privately purchased by her driver and partners Peter Van Seggelen, Carl Warnaar and Tapron Holdings Ltd.
Nightime Chase was the fastest stakes winner as she lowered the divisional track record to 1:56.1 in the third split for trainer/driver Keith Clark and co-owner John Hind of Calgary.
The homebred Mystery Chase-Minettas Nightstar filly fired out from post five and tucked in behind the quick-leaving 7-5 favourite, Pickles On Top (Travis Cullen), through a 28-second opening quarter. Wedding Dance (Gerry Hudon) then swept up from the backfield on the way to the half in :59.1 and took over with Sideline Secrets (Ed Hensley) moving up into second-place in the outer flow. Shuffled back to fourth, Nightime Chase tipped second over and then fanned three-wide past the 1:26.4 third quarter marker to chase down Wedding Dance with :29 final quarter speed for the one and one-quarter length victory. Pickles On Top rallied to the outside down the stretch and just missed the runner-up role at the finish line.
Nightime Chase, who is now two-for-four to start her career, paid $19 for the mild 8-1 upset.
Outlaw Fireball's winning connections also celebrated another victory on Saturday's card as their five-year-old pacing mare Tajmeallover drew off by more than four lengths in the $10,500 Fillies & Mares Open Pace. The daughter of Tajma Hall out of Watch Over Me was the even-money favourite and took a new lifetime mark of 1:53.2 while improving her career record to 21 wins from 41 starts.
Tajmeallover swept from third to first after a 28-second opening quarter and cruised through middle splits of :57 and 1:25 with Sing Like An Angel (Travis Cullen) hot on her heels. However, Tajmeallover took off around the final turn and just missed the track record for older pacing mares by two-fifths of a second while notching her sixth Open victory of the year. Sing Like An Angel followed back in second-place and Nighttraintovegas (Travis Bowman) came on for third.
To view Saturday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Saturday Results - Century Downs.