The Usual Suspect put an end to Machthemoment’s current four-race win streak in St. John’s Racing & Entertainment Centre’s featured $640 Preferred Pace on
Wednesday.
After leaving from Post 7, driver Wayne Williams and The Usual Suspect were parked to the :29.2 first quarter before tucking into the two-hole behind inside starter Jokers Jackpot (Shane Forward), who proceeded to carve out middle fractions of :59.4 and 1:31. At that point, Williams and The Usual Suspect pulled the pocket and sprinted home to win in 2:02.2 with odds-on favourite Machthemoment (Rod Forward) closing with him to finish second, a half-length behind. Third place went to Canadian Mint (Colin Sheppard), who finished nine and a half lengths in arrears.
The seven-year-old gelded son of Jennas Beach Boy-Tropicana Chris, who has not finished worse than fourth in Preferred company this year, notched his third 2010 win for trainer Dean Howlett and owner Catherine Howlett of Goulds. The victory was his 19th lifetime and bumped his earnings to $109,447.
The track's leading trainer, Scott Forward, sent out three of the seven winners on the program including Victors Passion (Shane Forward, 2:08.3), Even Winds Obey (Shane Forward, 2:05.1), who notched his third win in a row, and Delta Force (Rod Forward Jr., 2:07.1), a back-to-back winner.
To view Wednesday's results, click here.