Two-year-old pacing fillies were the stars of the show on Wednesday at Inverness Raceway, as the Nova Scotia half-mile oval hosted them in four divisions of the Atlantic Sires Stakes.
In the first of the three ‘A’ divisions, Western Judy found the winner’s circle for the first time in her career. The daughter of Articulator-West Wishes, who got away next-to-last in the field of six, used a :29.2 closing kick to win by a neck over race favourite Largomotion in 2:01.4. Third prize went to the tempo-setter, Saulsbrook Maggie.
Trained and driven by Marc Campbell for owner Blair Hansen of Charlottetown, PE, Western Judy improved her rookie record to 1-2-0 from four trips postward. Purchased for $1,600 from last year’s Atlantic Classic Yearling Sale, the filly has banked $7,057 to date.
Top Brand took the second division, and in doing so she picked her fourth win in as many tries for veteran trainer/driver Danny Romo. He asked the filly to march right to the lead from the rail, and after dictating the tempo through fractions of :32, 1:03 and 1:34.1 she rocketed home in :28.4 to halt the teletimer in 2:03. She was a neck better than runner-up West River Xtra, with Skip The Exam grabbing the show dough.
Purchased for $9,000 from last year’s Atlantic Classic Yearling Sale, the daughter of Brandons Cowboy-This Marks A Lady pushed her earnings to $12,465. She is owned by Thomas Hawco, Jr. and Melissa Hawco of Sydney, NS.
Carol Alice was the quickest of the stakes winners thanks to her 2:01 tally in the third division. Clark MacDonald got away third from Post 7 with the daughter of Brandons Cowboy-Keltic Sarah, but she had the rookie on the move on the way to the half. She cleared before the mid-way point and proceeded to slice out middle splits of 1:01.1 and 1:31 before scooting home in a :30-second clip to win by a 10-length margin over Whistys Paradise. Rounding out the top three finishers was Lady Antabella.
Doug Rankin of Sydney, NS owns the pacing lass, who now boasts a 3-2-0 record from her first five starts. She’s stashed away more than $14,000 in the process.
In the lone $2,500 ‘B’ division it was Roadside Insurgent who recovered from an early miscue to prevail in 2:05.1 for trainer/driver Kevin Bailey. The daughter of N Xample-Renee Seelster laid down most of the speed before holding on to win by three-quarters of a length over Lyndale Annie, who was second-placed-third after causing stretch interference to Economical. That filly was third-placed-second.
Sent off at odds of 9-1 in the six-filly affair, Roadside Insurgent won for the first time in three tries for her owners/breeders, George Della Vale and Kevin Bailey of Sydney, NS.
To view results for Wednesday's card of harness racing, click the following link: Wednesday Results – Inverness Raceway.