Sophomore pacers Momas Work Of Art and Custard Dolce shared the spotlight on Mid-Summer Classic Day at Century Downs, featuring Alberta's first graded stakes events on Saturday, Aug. 2.
Momas Work Of Art was victorious in the $118,400 Ralph Klein Memorial for three-year-old male pacers with David Kelly driving for conditioner Shelly Arsenault while the Jamie Gray-trained three-year-old filly pacer Custard Dolce added the companion $103,160 Gord & Illa Rumpel Memorial to her impressive list of accomplishments in rein to Phil Giesbrecht. It was a mid-summer's dream day for local owner Jackson Wittup, who is part of the ownership groups of both Grade 3 stakes winners.
Momas Work Of Art pulled off a mild 7-1 upset defeating the heavily favoured Klein elimination winner Hands Off Harry in a 1:52.4 career-best performance, just three-fifths of a second off the male sophomore track record.
Moores Mile champion Discontinued (Brandon Campbell) flashed his usual gate speed from post four while Hands Off Harry (Mike Hennessy) played the old give-and-go at the inside and looped back to the lead by the quarter in :27. After stalking the early leaders from third through a half in :55.3, David Kelly made his move with Momas Work Of Art and charged alongside Hands Off Harry in a duel past three-quarters in 1:23. The pair took off turning for home in a head-to-head stretch battle that ended with Momas Work Of Art pulling ahead just before the wire to win by 1-1/4 lengths. Hands Off Harry had his four-race win streak snapped in second while multiple Alberta Sires Stakes winner Outlawminutbyminut (Logan Gillis) closed well from the backfield to show.
A 1:55.2 elimination winner last week, Momas Work Of Art returned $16.90 for a $2 win ticket. He now sports a career record reading 6-4-2 from 15 starts with $180,616 in earnings. Arsenault and Wittup share ownership of the Outrageous Art-Rocket Moma colt with Sherwood Park, Alta. breeder Donald Monkman Jr.'s Don M Jr. Stables.
Multiple stakes winner Custard Dolce, the overwhelming 1-9 favourite, left her rivals in the dust as she spun for home in the Rumpel on her way to a 1:54.1 triumph.
Mademechangemymind (Mike Hennessy), the only filly to defeat Custard Dolce this year getting her by a nose in the Shirley McClellan Stakes, was put in play early as she overtook a quick-leaving Georgia Hanover (Kelly Hoerdt) in a :28.2 opening quarter while Custard Dolce bided her time in third for Phil Giesbrecht. Imashipwreck (Jacques Lambert) moved underway from fifth rounding the turn to the backstretch, flushing Custard Dolce out of third as they reach the half in :57.4. Custard Dolce advanced first-up to look Mademechangemymind in the eye at three-quarters in 1:26 and went by, sprinting off by as much as five lengths through the final turn in another impressive victory, measuring three lengths at the end. Imashipwreck rallied into second over fellow late-closer Blowing Inthe Wind (James Jungquist).
Custard Dolce paid $2.20 to win as the heavily backed favourite, with the rest of the field dismissed at double-digit odds. Gray's homebred filly, a daughter of Custard The Dragon out of Blue Star West, is also owned by Wittup and partners Max Gibb of Millarville, Alta., and Derek Wilson of Heritage Pointe, Alta. Just a nose shy of a perfect sophomore record, Custard Dolce picked up her sixth stakes win this year and is now 14-for 16 lifetime with nearly $300,000 in earnings.
Custard Dolce capped off a perfect day for Gray, whose stable starters went three-for-three during the 12-race card.
Rebecca Kanak also had a flawless three-win Saturday at Century Downs.
To view Saturday's harness racing results, click the following link: Saturday Results - Century Downs.
(Standardbred Canada; photo of Momas Work Of Art winning on Aug. 2)