The Track On 2 kicked off the 2025 harness racing season on Sunday, July 27 and trainer David Kelly sprinted out of the gate with a training triple to headline the card at the Lacombe, Alta. mile.
Kelly, the leading trainer of the 2024 meet at The Track On 2, piloted each of his trainees to victory on the Sunday card starting with Riskofthunderstorm (Captive Audience - Outlawlookslikrain) in the $3,800 conditioned pace with a gate-to-wire performance in 1:57.3 over Flying Officer (Mike Hennessy) and Outlaw Duke Worthy (Kelly Hoerdt).
Riskofthunderstorm ($6.10) is owned by Pick 6 Stable. The five-year-old mare won her second start of the year and moved her career record to 6-15-12 in 70 starts, yielding a bankroll of $83,558.
In the next race, a $4,000 conditioned pace, Kelly and Cf Saving Grace eamed up to win by 4-1/2 lengths in 1:54.3 over Hestonsfreechips (Tom Miller) and Sams Jizzy Jet (Hennessy).
Cf Saving Grace ($3.90) is a Santanna Blue Chip - G I Joan five-year-old mare owned by David Kelly, Mike Dicks, and Marcia Smith as she notched her second win of the year. The mark was a career best time for the winner of six career races and $39,945 in lifetime earnings.
Finally, Kelly sealed off a natural hat trick in the eighth race, the featured conditioned pace on the card with a $5,800 purse, with Tropical Dragon (pictured above). Kelly and the Custard The Dragon - Beyond Paradise gelding worked their way from seventh to a win by a head in 1:54.2 over favoured Mylittle Gingerman (Phil Giesbrecht) and Electric Amadeus (Miller).
Tropical Dragon ($15.50) is an eight-year-old gelding owned by David Kelly and Mike Dicks. He scored his first win in three starts this year and 28th career win from 97 starts with $105,598 in the bank.
David Kelly has 533 training wins and $3.2 million in lifetime earnings. As a driver, he has 1,093 wins and $7.1 million in lifetime earnings. He sprung to an early jump on the trainer and driver standings with the hat trick.
Live harness racing will resume on Sunday, Aug. 3 with Sunday cards throughout the month. Come September, The Track on 2 will add a special Monday card on Sept. 1 then race three days per week — Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday — through to Sunday, Sept. 21. First post time will be 1:10 p.m. MT for all cards.
To view Sunday's harness racing results, click the following link: Sunday Results - The Track On 2.
(Standardbred Canada; photo of Tropical Dragon from a previous win on July 9, 2023)