P J Lucky made his move late, but nonetheless, it was a winning move and earned him the lion’s share of the $100,000 Slots Cup purse at Hiawatha Horse Park
on Saturday night.
P J Lucky, sent postward at odds of 11-1, made himself comfortable in the four-hole with Terry Kerr at the controls while the odds-on favourite, Kerrs Light (Simon Allard), carved out early panels of :27 and :57.1. From there, Monster In Law (Al Carroll) advanced first-over to steal the spotlight at the third check-in point, which flashed up in 1:24.2. Heading into the stretch, P J Lucky was still fourth at the rail and five lengths off the leader, but the four-year-old Camluck-Keyed Alike gelding kicked into action unleashing a :28.1 final frame to come on for the 1:53.1 victory by a head.
Monster In Law stayed for second with Mach Beth (Trevor Henry) finishing third.
Peter Davis trains, owns and bred the winner of three races in 22 seasonal starts, who bumped his earnings to $72,574. P J Lucky now sports eight wins on his lifetime record with $117,395 in earnings.
Also featured on the Saturday program were a pair of Preferred events.
Making his first start in Canada, favourite Go Both Ways prevailed in 1:52.3 in the $15,000 Preferred Pace in wire-to-wire fashion for teamster Trevor Henry and trainer Anthony Montini. Gold Cup & Saucer winner All The Weapons (Ken Oliver) finished a length back in second and Big Bam Ray (Scott Zeron) rounded out the top three.
The Real Desire-Check And Raise five-year-old is owned by Albina Montini of Acton, Paul Giammichele of Burlington and Joseph Rogers of Markham, Ont. It was his fifth win in 30 ’09 tries.
In $11,000 Preferred 2 Pace, Bridge Street used a :28.4 final quarter to rally from fifth to first in the stretch for a 12-1 surprise. With Mike Whelan in the bike, the Scott McNiven pupil stopped the clock in 1:53.3 winning by a half length over pacesetter Destiny Rides (Al Carroll). Armbro Warranty (Gene Piroski) finished third.
Owned by McNiven, Tom Brodhurst of London and Shirley Griffin of St. Thomas, Ont., the 12-year-old Armbro Emerson-Armbro Lovely gelding won for the second time in 26 starts this year.
To view Saturday's harness racing results, click here.