Pull The Shade and Garrett Rooney dominated the Mark Austin Pacing Series after winning the first two legs and then taking the $11,600 final in 1:59.1 on Sunday (July 23) at Dresden Raceway.
The three-year-old Dragon Again filly got away third as Action Town and Donnie Rankin set the fractions of :28.3 to the quarter and hit the half in :58.3. Rooney had Pull The Shade moving first-up just before the half and took the lead at three-quarters in 1:28.2, never looking back for the win.
Pull the Sahde is owned by Sherri Abbott of Windsor, Ont., and Steve Roberts is the conditioner.
Step In My Groove and Nick Steward finished third.
The late-closing series for maidens was in honour of former trainer Mark Austin, who passed away suddenly in 2014.
Austin was known for training such horses as Fool Me Once and Sparky Mark, but was a fixture at Dresden in the early years as he helped break trotting legend A Worthy Lad, who never lost on Canadian soil, and at Dresden had overnighters such as Oscarsson and Hosit The Colours.
Austin’s widow Julie was on hand along with daughters Paige and Paula to give an engraved stop watch to winning driver Rooney and a bag of carrots to Pull The Shade.
Rooney had a big day as he notch five winners to give him 25 victories on the season and a huge lead in the dash standings. Tyler Borth had one winner on the day and is second in the standings with 15 wins while Steward is third with nine wins.
The handle at Dresden Raceway was $26,842 including $2,613 that was bet off track.
To view Sunday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Sunday Results - Dresden Raceway.
(Dresden Raceway)