In the first two legs of the MSSBA Golden Boy Stakes, sophomore Looinlikeamillion prevailed as the public choice. He repeated that success in the $11,954 final on Saturday, Sept. 28 at The Loop.
One aspect of the victory that was different for Lookinlikeamillion: the trip. This week — and for the first time this year — Lookinlikeamillion set all the fractions for driver Richard Remillard. After setting stanzas of :29.3, 1:00.2 and 1:31.2 on top, Lookinlikeamillion powered home in a half minute for the facile 5-1/4 length score in 2:01.2. Cartoon Kid (Marc Fillion) was next best, with Tough Crowd (Darryl Mason) the show finisher.
Tara Isman trains the son of Armbro Baylor - Untold Millions, now a seven-time winner with $38,251 in earnings. Tara also co-owns with Dr. Valerie Isman & George Isman of Gladstone, Man. and Garett Isman of Calgary, Alta. He paid $3.50 to win.
Choozetocruise ($5.90) made every call a winning one to capture the $11,406 MSSBA Silk Lace final for three-year-old pacing fillies.
Sent to the front from post two by driver Don Howlett, second choice Choozetocruise chopped out fractions of :29.2, 1:00.3 and 1:31.3 before pacing home in :29 to trip the timer in 2:00.3. Grit N Grace (Dean Rey) chased from the pocket to no avail, staying for second, with favoured Chasin Rainbows recovering from an early break to finish third for driver Richard Remillard.
Trevor Williams of Landmark, Man. owns Choozetocruise (Lambretta - Kilo Dream), now a seven-time winner in 10 starts this season with $32,383 in seasonal earnings. He's handed the training over to Mathew Howlett.
The win with Choozetocruise kicked off a training natural hat trick for Howlett, who came right back to the winner's circle in the third race with Voodoo Blue Chip (2:02.1; $5.10) and then scored with Litizor ($8.00) in the $8,000 Open Pace for driver/co-owner Don Howlett and co-owner Dwayne Taylor of Minto, Man. Don guided the six-year-old gelded son of Vertical Horizon - Mothers Melody to a gate-to-wire seasonal best 1:59.2 score over favoured Armycaptin Hanover (Michel Rey) and Mach Jacobs (Dean Rey). He's now a 18-time winner with $88,374 in earnings.
Howlett's three training tallies lift him into the local lead with 17 wins this season, two better than Richard Rey, and his seasonal totals are stellar: 21-9- 4 from 46 starts with a 0.594 UTRS and $75,494 in earnings.
Shady Roan ($6.70) scored his first career win with a confident 2:04.3 effort in the MSSBA Juvenile Stake for two-year-olds. Clayton Braybrook engineered the winning effort, a wire-to-wire tally where he was more than four lengths better than stablemate Wood Morning (Michel Rey) and Van Goghing Fast (Fillion).
Breeder Aurel Vodon of Virden, Man. co-owns Shady Roan (Mr Rock - Simply Awesome) with Katie MacLennan of Winnipeg.
Trainer Sherri Mason also tripled on the card, bookending the 11-race program with wins courtesy Treasure Horizon (1:59.1; $14.70) in the first and Aime Hanover (2:01; $3.30) in the finale while also connecting with Hurry Home (2:00.1; $2.70) in the ninth.
For the full results from Saturday's card of harness racing, click the following link: Saturday Results - The Loop
(Standardbred Canada)