Following a pair of runner-up performance in the preliminary legs of the Labatts Claiming Series, Delcrest Mr Joe hit his stride at the perfect time despite a sloppy track, rallying home to prevail in the $33,000 final on Saturday night at Georgian Downs
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The top nine money earners in the series for non-winners of $30,000 lifetime as of July 15, racing for a $12,000 price tag in the preliminary rounds, advanced to Saturday’s final.
Tymal Yoko (Dan Clements), a winner in the second leg of the series, cleared the lead ahead of Delcrest Mr Joe during the :27.4 opening quarter, but that trotter's lead was short lived as the parked out Raise E Daisy (J.R. Plante) swept up to take over in front of the grandstand after leaving from the outside Post 9.
Raise E Daisy, a first leg winner, showed the way past middle splits of :57.4 and 1:28.1 while driver Anthony Haughan sent Delcrest Mr Joe after the lead. The five-year-old gelded son of Mr Lavec-Sb Fuchsias Cancan collared the front-runner midway down the stretch and hit the wire in a career-best 2:01.1 with 23-1 longshot Acuity (Willis Jones) rallying three-wide from the backfield to finish three-quarters of a length behind in second. Another 24-1 longshot, Mischievous Grin (Keith Jones), closed well from last to show, finishing two and a half lengths behind.
Delcrest Mr Joe paid $18.40 to win as the 8-1 fifth choice. The Paul Ruhl trainee, a winner of two races in 10 seasonal starts and $25,991 in purses, is owned by James Ruhl of Tara, Ont. The bay gelding has recorded top three finishes in half of his 22 lifetime starts for total earnings of $43,441 to date.
For results from Saturday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Saturday Results - Georgian Downs.