Spartan Victory romped to a three length victory as the favourites made breaks when launching their attacks throughout the mile in Wednesday night's featured $7,000 Preferred 3 Trot at Grand River Raceway.
With Ryan Holliday steering his second straight winner on the card, Spartan Victory won a battle for the lead from the inside post as three others hustled off the gate looking for early position. Meanwhile, 4-5 favourite Here Comes Numbers (Paul MacKenzie) broke stride to his immediate outside.
With the lead, Spartan Victory carved out fractions of :29.1, :59.2 and 1:29.3. Second choice Boogie Woogie (Keith Oliver) rallied three-wide off cover around the final turn, but also broke stride.
Spartan Victory remained unchallenged into the stretch and coasted home for the open length victory in 1:59.1, returning $31.70 to his backers. Long Ago (Bruce Richardson) followed in the pocket to finish second at odds of 17-1 while 110-1 longshot Oaklea Torpedo (Thomas Smith) came in third.
London's Brad Pittock trains and owns the six-year-old Hard Rock N Roll gelding, who notched his third win of the season from 21 starts. Spartan Victory's 11th career win leaves him just shy of the $100,000 earnings mark.
To view Wednesday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Wednesday Results - Grand River Raceway.