After Alberta-sired pacing fillies opened Century Mile's inaugural harness meet on Sunday, juvenile pacing colts and geldings had their turn Monday in four divisions of the Alberta Lonestar Stakes, worth a combined $53,400.
Of the four victorious freshmen, two are sired by Mystery Chase — including Lovemyrockinbird ($21.90), whose 1:56.4 mile was the event's speed mark.
Trainer-driver Jamie Gray landed Lovemyrockinbird into live second-over cover while Just Mac (Serge Masse) rated a :58.3 half, and the pair eclipsed a stalled Outlaw Stateofmind (Paul Davies) — who advanced first-over as the 1-5 favourite — nearing the top of the stretch. Lovemyrockinbird accelerated upon cornering and used a :28.2 final quarter to nab Just Mac in the final strides. Outlaw Stateofmind finished third.
Gray co-owns Lovemyrockinbird with James Rhodes and Joe Tinelli.
Criminal Record ($4.40) was the other Lonestar winner by Mystery Chase by way of a wire-to-wire 1:57.2 win, 11-3/4 lengths better than runner-up Horse. Trainer-driver Kelly Hoerdt shares ownership of Criminal Record with Ralph Morrow and Jacques Lambert.
The other two divisions saw their respective winners prevail on the point: Dontpokethedragon ($4.40, Keith Clark) repelled Ragged But Right in 1:57.2, and Freddy Two Socks ($3.40, Phil Giesbrecht) used a :27.3 last quarter to evade Outlawfryreyesonly by 2-1/2 lengths in 1:59.2.
Dontpokethedragon (Ryan Haynes Photo)
Freddy Two Socks (Ryan Haynes Photo)
To view Monday's harness racing results, click the following link: Monday Results - Century Mile.