Aladdin remained magical in the Rideau Carleton Raceway Preferred, reeling off his fourth straight victory on Sunday, Aug. 27. Not to be outdone, Guy Gagnon cast a spell on the competition through the evening as well, visiting the winner's circle five times as a driver, picking up three training victories on the card in the process.
The second half of Samuel Fillion's double on the card came with the high flying Aladdin in the $10,000 Preferred Pace. Heavily favoured from the outside post five, Aladdin had to work for the front end early as Dylans Bank and Guy Gagnon stung the favourite through a wicked opening quarter of :26. Aladdin wouldn't receive a breather in the middle half as Fillion kept his foot on the pedal through a blistering opening half of :53.3. Dylans Bank and Gagnon were back for more in the third quarter, tipping out once more to push Aladdin to three-quarters in 1:22.4.
Despite the contested early pace, Aladdin found more in the lane, digging in valiantly with a :29.2 final quarter to take the victory by two lengths in a lifetime best 1:52.1. Day Delight and Pascal Berube finished second, with Ima Dude and Melanie Plourde finishing third. Aladdin paid $2.50 for the victory.
The victory was the fifth in nine seasonal outings for the four-year-old gelded son of Shadow Play-Eloge. Trained by Maxime Velaye, Aladdin has banked $91,350 in a career that's only seen him finish off the board four times in 23 starts for owner Guy Corbeil.
Guy Gagnon remained hot throughout the 11-race card on Sunday, taking nearly half the races with five victories on the evening. Gagnon scored with Wrangler Cash (1:55.1; $5.10) in the second race, Loulouameri (1:57.3; $2.90) in the seventh, Show Me The Magic (1:56.4; $2.50) in the fifth, Western Phil (1:54.4; $3.90) in the eighth and Flash Cube (1:54; $3.50) in the finale. The latter three are all trained by Gagnon as well.
Full results for the Sunday card of harness racing at Rideau Carleton Raceway can be found using the following link: Sunday Results - Rideau Carleton Raceway.