Cool Creek Valley was strong on the lead until the wire, when he broke stride and handed the victory to his closest competitor, Thor Seelster, in Friday's $3,800 Racing Under Saddle (RUS) leg at Grand River Raceway.
Thor Seelster crossed the wire just a quarter-length behind the off-stride Cool Creek Valley, who was placed second by the racing judges for his lapped on break. Winning rider Natalie Elliott earned her third RUS victory of the season.
Cool Creek Valley and Marit Valstad took the lead off the gate over insider Thor Seelster and rebuffed a front-side challenge from that rival before opening up on the backstretch. Thor Seelster took another shot at Cool Creek Valley down the homestretch in a two-horse breakaway and ultimately benefited from the leader's late misstep.
Hammered down to odds of 1-2, Thor Seelster paid $3.00 to win. The six-year-old Pegasus Spur gelding has made three consecutive starts under saddle this month, winning on July 4 at Hanover Raceway and finishing second on July 18 at Georgian Downs prior to his latest triumph.
Thor Seelster's stablemate Lexus Hawkeye and rider Karoline Nielsen were third. Both trotters are trained by Pam Forgie.
The fractions of the race were :30.2, 1:02.4 and 1:33.2, with the winning mile clocked in 2:04.3.
Grand River Raceway is scheduled to host another RUS event on August 3, the 25th anniversary of Industry Day.
To view Friday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Friday Results - Grand River Raceway.