Sophomore trotting fillies Friendly Amigo and Yursa Hanover each delivered on their pari-mutuel promises Saturday afternoon at Flamboro Downs in a pair of Bud Light Stakes divisions worth over $45,000 a piece
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Using the inside post position to her advantage, Friendly Amigo, with Bruce Richardson in the bike, fired off the gate and rolled through fractions of :28.4, :58.4 and 1:28.4 en route to victory in 1:58.3 over a track rated ‘good’. The Amigo Hall-Diminutive miss was three and a quarter lengths the best over the pocket-sitting Mystic River (Steve Condren). Another Vixen (Jody Jamieson) finished back in third.
Friendly Amigo, an Ontario Sires Stakes Gold champion, has won three of her 17 starts this season earning over $200,000 for trainer Blair Burgess and owners Robert Burgess of Campbellville and Karin Olsson Burgess of Milton, Ont. The winner of four races lifetime now sports a bankroll totaling $243,397.
With Mario Baillargeon aboard, Yursa Hanover pulled the pocket after the :28.1 opening quarter in the second split and claimed the lead from Last Strike (Paul MacKenzie) before carving out the remaining panels of :58.2 and 1:28.2. With a four length lead heading into the stretch, Yursa Hanover appeared to be in the clear, but Keep The Spirit (Randy Waples) rallied from second-over to close Yursa Hanover’s margin of victory to a quarter length. The Windsongs Legacy-Yankee Topaz filly tripped the teletimer in 1:58.4. Magic Sassy (Rick Zeron) rounded out the top three finishers.
Ben Baillargeon trains the winner for owner Richard Berthiaume of Pointe-Aux-Trembles, Que. Yursa Hanover has won half of her 10 seasonal starts including a division of the Casual Breeze Stakes and Del Miller Memorial, earning over $200,000. The seven-time career winner has banked $576,307 to date.
To view Saturday’s harness racing results, click here.