Two-year-old pacing fillies Lil Bit O Jingle, Wedding Dance and Outlaw Fireball were all repeat winners in the second leg of the Alberta Sires Stakes at Century Downs Racetrack and Casino on Saturday afternoon (September 17).
Following up their victories in the Alberta Starlet on August 7, the opening leg winners delivered as the odds-on favourites winning Saturday's $19,067 Alberta Starburst second leg splits in dominant fashion.
Kurt and Kathy Schmidt's homebred filly Lil Bit O Jingle ($3.20) retook the lead from Shesamysterytome after the :28.3 opening quarter and carved out middle splits of :58.3 and 1:27 en route to the fastest victory of the day's three Sires Stakes in 1:57.4. Trained and driven by Travis Cullen, the daughter of Blue Burner-Rain Drop Hanover won by four an a quarter lengths over the re-rallying Shesamysterytome, who was interfered with by first over So Long Sugar as they hooked up in the backstretch and backed through the field. Keep On Burning finished third. Lil Bit O Jingle is now four-for-seven in her young career and has banked $26,141 in purses.
Owned by Donald Richardson and trained by Harold Haining, divisional track record holder Wedding Dance ($3.60) worked her way to the lead from the outside post eight through a :29.1 first quarter under the guidance of Gerry Hudon and never looked back. She cruised through middle fractions of :59.3 and 1:29.4 and then began to draw away to secure the victory in 1:59.1. The Mystery Chase-Westart Love filly also has four wins from seven starts, with $32,401 banked in purses. Pickles On Top followed three lengths behind in second off a pocket trip while Perfect Mystery came on for third.
Driver J.F. Gagne had Outlaw Fireball ($2.80) up in the mix early on and swept from third to first after a contested :28.2 quarter. The Marjorie Dumont-trained filly reached the half in 1:00.1 then rebuffed first over challenger Outlaw Imahotvixen to three-quarters in 1:29 and was home free from there for the four and a half length victory in 1:58.2. Steady Breeze and Triple Thick Shake came on for second and third. Outlaw Fireball, a daughter of Blue Burner and Watchasgirlsgoby, has now won half of her six starts while banking $29,181 for Gagne and co-owners Peter Van Seggelen, Carl Warnaar and Tapron Holdings Ltd.
The two-year-old pacing fillies will meet again in their third and final leg of the Alberta Sires Stakes on Saturday, October 15 prior to the Super Finals, which are set for Saturday, October 29.
To view Saturday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Saturday Results - Century Downs.