Two-year-olds Urcutoff, Johnny Gunn and Cool Cowboy completed a natural hat trick for sire Brandons Cowboy mid-card on Sunday afternoon at Alberta Downs, sweeping all three $17,400 divisions of the Alberta Sires Stakes.
Urcutoff kicked off the Rising Star leg, winning the fastest division in wire-to-wire fashion. He carved out fractions of :27.3, :56.4 and 1:25.1 en route to a five and a half length victory in 1:55.2. Outlaw Deacon Jim followed in second with Bruadar third.
Philip Giesbrecht drove the undefeated Brandons Cowboy-Wendy Jo Hanover gelding, who won his first two starts at Running Aces, for trainer Darryl Cutting and owner/co-breeder Mark Anderson of Willows, California.
Driven by Jim Marino, Johnny Gun swept from third to first after a contested :28.2 opening quarter and extended his leading margin as he raced by the half in :58.3 and three-quarters in 1:27.4 before crossing the wire in 1:56.4 with four and three-quarter lengths on his rivals. It was a 1-2-3 finish here for sire Brandons Cowboy as Vow To Win and Redheadfred came on for second and third.
Bred by Meridian Farms, the Brandons Cowboy-Jerrys Girl colt was purchased for $22,000 at the ASHA Yearling Sale by Donald Richardson of Cochrane, Alta. The Harold Haining trainee was making his third pari-mutuel start and posted back-to-back wins having also triumphed in his Horizon Pace division on July 27.
Cool Cowboy sprinted his final quarter in :28.1 to win the final division by two and a half lengths in 1:55.4 after Outlaw This Is It had led through panels of :28.4, :57.4 and 1:26.2. Withflyingcolours also closed well for second while Hollywood Master edged by Outlaw This Is It for third.
Trainer/driver Kelly Hoerdt purchased the Brandons Cowboy-Cool Grin colt, also bred by Meridian Farms, at the ASHA Sale for $19,000 with partners Blair Corbeil of Beaumont, Alta. and Witsend Consulting Inc. of Calgary, Alta. The win was his first in three pari-mutuel starts.
One race later in the afternoon's top class, Revolver defeated Playbook by a head for his third straight win in an impressive 1:51.2 mile. The winning time was one-fifth of a second faster than the aged stallion track record that was originally set by Smart Shark in 2009. Brandon Campbell drove the seven-year-old son of Dragon Again for trainer Glenn Lutz and Calgary owner Diane Donaldson.
To view Sunday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Sunday Results - Alberta Downs.