Three-year-old pacers were the stars of the show Monday afternoon at Exhibition Park Raceway as the half-miler featured a fine field of seven for the $23,980 Barrieau-McIsaac Final.
The wagering public bet Notorious off the board, and the son of Malicious-Caru Hanover didn’t disappoint for trainer/driver Marc Campbell.
The gelding shot to the lead from Post 3 and sliced out splits of :30.1, 1:00.4 and 1:30.4 before using a :29-second final frame to win by 2-3/4 lengths over Woodmere Tango in 1:59.4. Red Dirt Boomer was parked every step of the mile and still managed to hang on for third prize.
Sent off at odds of 1-5, Notorious now boasts a 4-3-2 record from nine starts for the partnership of Darryl MacLean, Gordon MacLean and Shirley Symes. The nine-time winner has now banked over $70,000 in his career.
Honourable mention on the Monday matinee goes out to trainer Ellen Stevenson who celebrated a three-win performance on the seven-race card.
And the wins were of the ‘in-a-row’ variety for Stevenson, who swept the first three races with Critique (2:01.2), Whiskey To Wine (2:05) and Umpire Hanover (2:02.3). Mike Downey mapped out the winning trips with the Stevenson trainees.
Stevenson’s 2019 win total jumped to 19 while her lifetime total now stands at 134 thanks to Monday’s training triple. The conditioner has racked up close to $700,000 in lifetime earnings.
To view results for Monday's card of harness racing, click the following link: Monday Results – Exhibition Park Raceway.