The best time of the summer at the Yorkton Exhibition Association track came Friday night in the seventh race of an eight-race night
.
The time of 1:59.2, the first sub two-minute mile of the year was posted by Ryan Grundy behind Hurricane Pat in the Dr. Ken Wood & Family 'Pace for The Lillies' Feature Race. It was the second straight win for Hurricane Pat for local owner Perry Trost.
Dynes At The Beach and Rick Kosterman was second, and Bubblemint and Glenn LeDrew placed third.
“She's a nice mare,” said Grundy, adding he knew the catch drive horse was a good one. “The last two years she's been claimer of the year in B.C., and Alberta. She's one of the classiest horses on the grounds here.”
Grundy said the instructions from trainer Blake Piwniuk was pretty straight forward for race.
“It was pretty much how the race went, he said go to the front and better your position,” he said.
Grundy said there was a level of confidence heading into the race after Hurricane Pat showed so well a week earlier in winning. In that race she was in the 2:01 range, “and she finished strong.”
In Friday's race the pace quickened a bit more, although Grundy said he was not sure if they were under two-minutes until he heard the time.
“Coming down the lane I wasn't sure, but I knew we were very close to a two-minute mile,” he said.
Grundy said it helped having a good field of eight horses.
“These horses are tough,” he said, but added Hurricane Pat still shone. “She's as good as any horse here.”
In the Flaman Sales & Rentals feature race it was Kevin Sampson who went to the winner's circle after driving Maximus Pass to top spot in a time of 2:01.4, topping Four KG Whitesocks with Brian Gray in second and Admired Promise with Donald Tracey in third.
Sampson said Glenn and Jane Grainger - the owners of Maximus Pass - told him to let the nine-year-old gelding go to the lead early.
“If the horse gets to the front he never loses. That's what the owners told me,” said Sampson.
While the plan was to go to the front, Sampson said Rick Kosterman with Elvishasleftthebdg coming out of the one spot didn't make it easy.
“He's a big horse that doesn't go around the corners real well, but it took us quite a while to get past,” he said, adding he was afraid the outside trip would be too much for the win. “I thought we'd run out of gas for sure, but he's a different horse on the front. I was pretty surprised.”
Rick Kosterman and Pumpjack were back in top spot for the second time in four starts, capturing a second winner's blanket, this time in the Buckle Transport feature race. The winning time was 2:03.1. Glenn LeDrew and To The Stars were second, and Hugh Woods had Duff Love third.
“Pumpjack raced huge,” said Kosterman after the races.
Kosterman said the race was not a typical one in the sense Kosterman's plan for the mile went out the window in a hurry.
“It was a weird race,” he said. “The game plan ... It didn't go anything like what went through my head 100 times last night.”
While not going as scripted, Pumpjack still took the finish line by several lengths.
Kosterman said the four-year-old horse was in a class, as a $2,000 claimer, where he could be competitive.
“He's a consistent 2:03, 2:04 pacer,” he said. “He raced really good tonight.”
The win gave Kosterman his fourth blanket of the summer. Asked what he does with so many, he said with a smile. “I give them out to the kids.”
Here are Friday's harness racing results.
(Yorkton)