Mademechangemymind and Discontinued provided the upsets in the lucrative Alberta Princess and Alberta Plainsmen stakes finals on Saturday, Aug. 23 at Century Downs.
The $53,900 ABSS Princess for three-year-old pacing fillies started the stakes action on Saturday, with divisional standout Custard Dolce poised to atone for a rare loss to Mademechangemymind one week ago. The public sided with Custard Dolce, and sent her postward as the 2-5 choice.
Mademechangemymind ($9.30; pictured above) and driver Mike Hennessy aimed for uncharted waters: handing Custard Dolce consecutive defeats. Hennessy pointed Mademechangemymind for the front from post four, and made the lead heading into the first turn. Custard Dolce dropped into fourth, but driver Phil Giesbrecht wasn't about to let Mademechangemymind get away from him two weeks in a row and brushed to the front before the half.
After middle splits of :56.2 and 1:24.3, Custard Dolce appeared to start opening up on her rivals turning for home but then flattened out and started to drift. Mademechangemymind still had pace in the loose pocket, and darted to the inside with a late burst to bring down the favourite for the second straight week while earning a new 1:54 speed badge. Blowing Inthe Wind (James Jungquist) edged out Custard Dolce for place honours.
Nathan Sobey of Sturgeon County, Alta. trains and owns Mademechangemymind (Winds Of Change - Imjusttaylormade), now with eight top two finishes (5-3-0) in 10 sophomore appearances and eight lifetime victories in 18 starts. The win lifted her bankroll over the $200,000 mark, now standing at $202,313.
Sobey, who drove the filly prior to an accident in June, noted post-race that he has no intention of taking back the lines from Hennessy now that he's returned to driving activity.
"Mike and these guys helped me out when I was in a jam," said Sobey. "So out of respect to these guys, they get the [drives] for the rest of the year."
If this version of Discontinued ($23.70) is the horse that shows up for the rest of the year, the three-year-old pacing colt division in Alberta is in serious trouble. Pressured every step of the mile in the $54,800 Alberta Plainsmen, a determined Discontinued fought off the field and appeared to revel in the work. After first-over bids from Dont Delete Me (Kelly Hoerdt) and then second choice Momas Work Of Art (David Kelly) through fractions of :27.2, :57.1 and 1:25, Discontinued had every excuse to pack it in for trainer-driver Brandon Campbell. Especially when the favourite, Outlawminutbyminut (Logan Gillis) had a pocket ride for all the front-end fisticuffs.
But Discontinued showed his foes the cold shoulder and paced home in :29 to trip the timer in a lifetime best 1:54. Momas Work Of Art was next across the wire, 1/3-4 lengths off the leader, with longshot Picking Rocks (Jamie Gray) at the bottom of the triactor ticket.
"I wasn't confident at all, to be honest," said Campbell after the victory, noting his horse had been battling sickness recently. "I was keeping my horse a little bit wide [turning for home]... it was a little bit better footing so that gave Logan an early shot to come up the inside, and I was expecting him to come flying. He didn't, and Dave got to my wheel. My horse just kept fighting them off. Like I said, I'm totally surprised."
Discontinued is owned by Campbell along with Raymond Henry and George Rogers of Calgary, Alta. The Custard The Dragon - Shark Fest colt now sports six career victories in 20 starts with more than $155,000 in earnings.
Although the $16,000 Preferred Pace didn't feature Shark Week in this edition, it still boasted solid competition and ended with one amazing finish — a 1:51.3 dead-heat between Midnight Mover ($3.10) and Mercedes ($2.60). The time of the mile was just one-fifth of a second off the lifetime mark for each pacer.
Midnight Mover (Mystician - Bouncing Hanover) shared in the victory for driver James Jungquist, trainer Trevor Williams and owner Trevor Williams of Landmark, Alta. The win marked the fifth of the season and 16th lifetime, lifting his career earnings to $124,821.
Mercedes picked up his 17th career victory in 17 career appearances with earnings of $110,496. Raymond Henry owns the five-year-old son of All Bets Off - Skade.
Tamara Karasek celebrated a milestone victory on the card when driver Phil Giesbrecht angled Joe Dimagio up the inside late for a 1:53.3 victory in the 11th race to provide the Tillsonburg, Ont. resident with her first career training tally. Karasek also owns Joe Dimagio, who returned $23.40 to win. Karasek picked up her first training win in just her 12th career start.
To view the full results from Saturday's card of harness racing outside of Calgary, click the following link: Saturday Results - Century Downs.
(Standardbred Canada)