Western Canada's fastest pacer Shark Week showed off his talents in front of the Packwood Grand crowd at Century Downs as he cruised to an uncontested victory in the $25,000 Preferred Pace on Saturday, July 27.
Shark Week left from post five in the afternoon's feature and glided through fractions of :27.1, :56 and 1:24.3 before blasting off to a 5-1/4-length victory in 1:51.3. Samba Beat (Phil Giesbrecht) chased in vain from the pocket and Sunshine Boy (Brandon Campbell) followed in third.
"It's out of this world," said Hennessy in a post-race interview, describing what it's like to drive the standout pacer. "I've driven a lot of really good horses that went on to other places and paced in [1]:48 or [1]:49 and they can't even light a candle to this horse. It's a totally different animal. It's like driving a sports car -- you can start him up, slow him down, start him up. Do whatever you want, he's going to do it for you."
After a 20-win campaign that included Western Canada's first sub-1:50 mile paced in 1:49.2 last year, Shark Week has won five of his six starts this season. The six-year-old Vertical Horizon-Shark Gone Bad gelding now boasts 45 career wins from 80 starts and a bankroll totalling $382,725.
Hennessy's father Rod trains and co-owns the speedy pacer with Lorne Duffield.
Shark Week returned $2.10 to win as the overwhelming 1-9 favourite.
Rockin Roller later took the $11,000 Preferred 2 in a blowout victory of his own for trainer/driver Brandon Campbell.
Rockin Roller got the first call firing across the track from post six to land the lead over insider Buddy Knocks (Hennessy) with a gap back to favourite Mylittle Gingerman (Kelly Hoerdt) in third through a :27.4 opener. As Rockin Roller took a breather on the front-end, Mylittle Gingerman caught the top pair and went first-up to take over second-place by the half in :56.2. But Rockin Roller was just toying with his foes as he took off to three-quarters in 1:24.1 and poured it on through the stretch to win by nearly a dozen lengths in 1:52.4. Came A Cavalier (Jamie Gray) was the best of the rest while No Collusion (Nathan Sobey) had the slight advantage over Blast Of Sunshine (Giesbrecht) and Mylittle Gingerman in a show photo.
A 6-1 winner after a miscue marred his last start, Rockin Roller returned $14 to his backers as the third choice on the toteboard.
Leased from breeders Gilles Gobeil and Sandra Williams by Campbell and Jodi Loftus, the five-year-old Domitian Hanover-Erasable Art gelding improved his seasonal summary to 2-1-1- from eight outings. Rockin Roller now has 13 wins overall with $62,762 in lifetime earnings.
Kelly Hoerdt led all trainers on the program with a trio of winners that he drove, including three-year-old gelding Believe It Sea It ($12.10) and sophomore filly Licklips Swinghips ($3.90) in consecutive races. The Beaumont, Alta. horseman also won with four-year-old gelding Handsome Dan ($7.70). His hat trick pulled him out of a three-way tie with Campbell and Travis Ellis for sole ownership of the top spot in the trainer standings at Century Downs this year, with his win count now at 36.
The 11-race card on Saturday handled a record $372,382 in wagers at the Calgary-area oval, higher than the $332,168 that was the record from Packwood Grand's visit in 2023.
Bonus Round and driver Dave Kelly parade in front of the Packwood Grand crowd.
To view Saturday's harness racing results, click the following link: Saturday Results - Century Downs.
(Standardbred Canada)