Brandon Campbell stole the show on Friday night (Sept. 9) at Century Downs with half a dozen wins including a pair of Alberta Sires Stakes (ABSS).
The first round of Sires Stakes for two-year-old pacers, which was postponed after last Saturday's cancellation, was comprised of three Starlet divisions for fillies and three Rising Star divisions for colts and geldings. Each division was worth approximately $17,000.
With Campbell driving his third straight winner to open the Friday program, 1-4 favourite G Ts Skyla ($2.70) was the fastest of the Starlet fillies as she romped to a 10-3/4-length victory in 1:57.4 at first asking.
G Ts Skyla (pictured above) took control off the gate and cruised through fractions of :29.2, :59.3 and 1:28.4 before leaving her rivals in the dust. Nonversation (Phil Giesbrecht) and Cenalta Token (Mike Hennessy) were the best of the rest.
Scott McGinn, 27, celebrated his first training win and shares ownership of the homebred Mystician filly, who is the first foal out of 2013 Alberta Super Final champion G Ts Selene, with Gerald, Marjorie and Terry McGinn, all of Stony Plain, Alta.
Campbell doubled up in ABSS action when he drove his own trainee Promise Kept ($5.40) to a 1:58.1 Starlet score.
The Custard The Dragon-Make Three Wishes miss converted a pocket trip into a 4-3/4-length victory over Dear John Im Gone (Kelly Hoerdt) and pacesetter Beach Myst (Tyler Redwood), who had led through splits of :28.3, :59.2 and 1:28.4.
Promise Kept, the ASHA Filly Stakes runner-up, is now two-for-three in her career. The $27,000 ASHA Yearling Sale purchase is campaigned by Calgary, Alta.-based owners Jodi Loftus, George Rogers and Raymond Henry.
The other filly division was won by Missionized ($14.80) for the father-son, trainer-driver team of Rod and Mike Hennessy.
Missionized followed the favoured ASHA Filly Stakes champion, Cora Cora Cora (Jamie Gray), through fractions of :27.4, :57.2 and 1:28.2 before taking over in deep stretch. She prevailed in 1:59 flat by three-quarters of a length, with Waitinonawoman (Nathan Sobey) up for second over Cora Cora Cora.
The JK Royal Flush-KG Mist filly, who is now two-for-four, competes as a homebred for her Falun, Alta. trainer and co-owner Lorne Duffield of Edmonton, Alta.
Mike Hennessy also doubled up in the freshman stakes, with Lukes Proclamation ($6.60) winning his Rising Star division in 1:57.4 for trainer Douglas Stout and owner Derek Stout of Camrose, Alta.
Lukes Proclamation survived an overland trip and wore down pacesetter Imyourhuckleberry (Kelly Hoerdt) after panels of :29.4, 1:00.2 and 1:29. He prevailed by half a length over Imyourhuckleberry, with 1-2 favourite Virtual Horizon (Campbell) making it a three-across finish closing off cover.
Lukes Proclamation set a 1:57.1 two-year-old track record at The Track On 2 in his career debut on July 31 and is now two-for-three in his career. The Captive Audience-Shark Gone Bad gelding, who was a $17,000 yearling from the ASHA Sale, is a half-brother to ABSS graduate and Preferred star Shark Week ($142,110) -- trained by Hennessy's father.
Stephen Crump's homebred colt Tin Can Timmy ($5.30) was the fastest Rising Star division winner in 1:56.4.
David Kelly guided him through fractions of :29.1, :59.2 and 1:27.4 before holding off the pylon-skimming Over The Horizon (Sobey) by a head and 6-5 favourite Ponder No Longer (Giesbrecht) by a half-length.
Kelly Crump trains the BJS Bequia-Free Tunes colt, who took a new lifetime mark and now has two wins and two seconds from four career starts.
Driven by Phil Giesbrecht, The Dickens ($10.80) scored a maiden-breaking 1:57.1 victory in the final Rising Star division, besting the front-stepping Reach Out by half a length.
Reach Out (Sobey) re-took command after the :28.1 opening quarter and reeled off middle splits of :58 and 1:27.2 before The Dickens, who improved to second down the backstretch, launched from the pocket in the lane and caught him at the wire. After winning his first two starts, favourite Pop N Like Pez (Redwood) finished third, 5-1/2 lengths behind.
Donna Sarin trains the Custard The Dragon-Show Some Leg colt, who won his fourth start, for owner/breeder 8113564 Canada Ltd. of Sherwood Park, Alta.
The two-year-olds will meet again for the second leg of ABSS on Oct. 1 before the top performers face off in the Challenge Of Champions Super Finals on Oct. 15.
Campbell's six wins included Willzy ($4.80) and Metaki ($3.10) from his own stable as well as Havinfuninthesun ($8.20) for trainer Kelly Hoerdt and Oriental Express ($3.90) for Brinsley Brooking Lutz. His 161 driving victories so far in 2022 have landed him on the Top 10 leaderboard in Canada.
An accident occurred during Friday's 11th race towards the backfield coming off the final turn involving Iris Seelster. Driver Nathan Sobey was unseated at the top of the stretch during the incident but was quickly up on his feet while maintaining ahold of Iris Seelster.
To view Friday's harness racing results, click the following link: Friday Results - Century Downs.