Names Fame made sure his name would not be forgotten at Sudbury Downs when he made the winning move at the midway point in the $18,700 Young Guns Series Final on Saturday night
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The nine highest point earners in the three-leg series for five-year-olds and under that are non-winners of three races or $30,000 lifetime ($40,000 for fillies and mares, winners over $50,000 not eligible) advanced to the final. The Young Guns Stake is an annual event and since its inception in 1991, it has been the longest, continuously run stake at the track.
Names Fame, who won the opening leg of the series and finished second in the following two legs, got away second from a Post 5 start in tonight’s final as the 13-1 shot In The Studio (Justin Turcotte) rolled to the front of the field from Post 3. After a :27.3 opening quarter, trainer/driver Jay Polifroni gave Names Fame the signal and the 3-1 second choice advanced to the lead past the :56.4 half. The three-year-old son of Apaches Fame-Tymal Saymyname secured a two length lead on the field by three-quarters in 1:26.2 and coasted home stopping the teletimer in 1:55.4.
Auditorial (Mike Dowling), the co-favoured Mario Rivest pupil, closed well to finish two lengths behind in second with longshot Foxys Fire Water (Don Gillis, Jr.) grabbing third.
For Names Fame, the win was his third in 20 seasonal starts and fourth lifetime bumping his earnings to $42,722. Andrew Smagac of Chelmsford, Ont. owns the bay gelding.
Trainer Mike Lamoureux sent three winners postward on the 11-race card providing driver David Dowling with two of his four wins. France MacLean also enjoyed a training triple with Paul MacLean engineering all three winning trips.
To view Saturday's harness racing results, click here.