Veteran trotter Indiana Hall delivered on his pari-mutuel promise with a wire-to-wire effort in the featured $11,000 Preferred 2 Handicap on Wednesday night at Grand River Raceway.
With Trevor Henry in the sulky, Indiana Hall fired to command from post two and carved out early fractions of :28.3 and :59 before coming under serious pressure with Lexis D J (Ross Battin) moving up alongside as they raced to three-quarters in 1:28.1. As Indiana Hall shook off that foe into the stretch, pocket-sitter Sarkozy (Mario Baillargeon) posed a treat at the pylons, however the favourite held on to win by a quarter length in 1:57.2. Lexis D J finished over two lengths behind in third.
Indiana Hall paid $3.60 to win. Ian Downey trains the Striking Sahbra-Inverlochy gelding, who boasts nine wins in 22 starts and $79,480 banked in purses during his nine-year-old campaign for the S S G Stables.
The 53-time career winner is closing in on the $800,000 earnings mark.
To view Wednesday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Wednesday Results - Grand River Raceway.