Alberta's brightest stars will battle for divisional supremacy on Sunday, Oct. 17 as Century Downs hosts the $240,000 Alberta Sires Stakes Super Finals.
Four $60,000 Super Finals for two and three-year-old pacers will close out the 2021 Alberta Sires Stakes season during Sunday's 10-race card with $10,000 consolations leading up to the main events.
Two-Year-Old Fillies
The two-year-old pacing fillies will kick off the Super Finals in the seventh race starring the undefeated Harold Haining trainee Saphire Blue, who will start from post eight with regular reinsman Mike Hennessy in the bike. The Vertical Horizon-Saucy B filly is perfect in five career starts with more than $50,000 earned for owner Donald Richardson. A winner of the ASHA Filly Stakes and a division of the Emerald Filly Pace, Saphire Blue enters the Super Final off an eight-length romp in the October 3 Alberta Stardust leg. She is the 9-5 morning line favourite.
Divine Art, the 7-2 second choice from post four, is riding winning momentum from a pair of stakes races into the Super Final for trainer/driver Nathan Sobey. Developed by retired Hall of Fame horseman Keith Clark, the Outrageous Art-Keystone Divine filly also won divisions of the Emerald and Stardust, missing the 1:55.2 divisional track record by just one-fifth of a second with her maiden-breaking victory in the former event. She is owned by Robert Jones, Diane Bertrand and John Hind.
"Keith did a hell of a job developing her and we got lucky that she ended up here [with us]," Sobey said in an interview with the Alberta Standardbred Horse Association. "She's been ultra-consistent all year... Her and Saphire Blue will finally hook up again. We lost the first round [finishing third when they met in the mid-August ASHA Filly Stakes] but I think we're poised to get a good chunk of her here this time."
Other contenders include Alberta Sires Stakes division winners Jamaica Move (post one), Wrangler Jewel (post six) — trainer Marie Brooking's first Alberta Super Final starter — and Tin Foil Hat (post seven).
Two-Year-Old Colts & Geldings
Vegas Gambler will put his five-race win streak on the line in the two-year-old Super Final for colts and geldings. Owned by trainer Rod Starkewski and Clauzette Byckal, the Mystery Chase-Nevada colt is five-for-six and perfect in stakes action when partnered with driver Phil Giesbrecht. In addition to his latest victories in both of the Alberta Rising Star and Shooting Star legs, Vegas Gambler swept the Century Casinos Pace elimination and final and won a division of the Rocky Mountain Boys. The career winner of $53,575 has drawn post five and is the 9-5 morning line favourite.
"We're very fortunate. We have four very nice horses and they're all racing well," Starkewski told ASHA. "We've got one in each division — that's kind of neat. That's a first.
"We've been really fortunate with our two-year-old colt Vegas Gambler. He's been just a challenge and a good feeling little guy. One more start here to see if he can keep going."
Stakes-winning freshmen Lets Tie One On (post one), Farasthe Eyecansee (post three), Ladner Lad (post six), Joe Dimagio (post seven) and Needabankloan (post nine) will be among the contenders looking to put an end to the divisional leader's reign.
Three-Year-Old Fillies
Exotic Dragon headlines the three-year-old filly Super Final after sweeps of the Alberta Diamond and Shirley McClellan Breeders Stakes that included a 1:52.3 divisional track record performance in the elimination round of the latter event. Another star from the Sobey stable owned by Jones, the Custard The Dragon-Accentuate filly made just one start as a two-year-old but has earned $87,402 this year with a 6-5-1 record from 13 sophomore starts. She will start from post six.
"She's kind of been up and down all year," Sobey told ASHA. "I think she's got a pretty decent shot. We'll see how Burning Hot comes back after that mishap [a break in stride] in the last leg. Graceful Horizon, she's been tough all year. The first thing we've got to see is what the track's like, what the weather's like, but I like her shot."
Graceful Horizon gets the nod as the 9-5 morning line choice after sweeping the latest Alberta Marquis leg last month for trainer Chris Lancaster and his co-owners, Derek Gilbert and Velda Olding. The Vertical Horizon-Gracie Montana miss, who boasts a six-figure bankroll with 13 top three finishes from 15 career starts, drew post eight with Kelly Hoerdt listed to drive.
Starkewski's homebred filly Burning Hot, winner of the Gord & Illa Rumpel Memorial this summer, will be looking to defend her Super Final title from post nine with Giesbrecht aboard. A daughter of Blue Burner out of Crackers Hot Shot, the 10-time winner is the richest filly in the field with nearly $150,000 banked in purses.
"Our top girl, Burning Hot, she's one of the top three-year-old fillies there," said Starkewski. "There's three girls in that class and any one of them... they're just a very nice bunch of three-year-old fillies."
Three-Year-Old Colts & Geldings
The Glamour Boy division will close out the action, with Shark Week headlining the field as the 2-1 morning line favourite from post nine for the father-son, trainer-driver team of Rod and Mike Hennessy. Owned by his trainer and Lorne Duffield, the Vertical Horizon-Shark Gone Bad colt has a mark of 1:53 and has won half of his 16 career starts and nearly $93,000. He swept the Alberta Marksman elimination and final early in the season and was just a half-length short of a Maverick sweep last month.
Codename Cigar Box defeated Shark Week with a 1:53.2 career-best effort in the Maverick final for trainer/driver Kelly Hoerdt. The Custard The Dragon-Art Amour colt, who also won the Moores Mile Breeders Stakes, will start from post three in their Super Final showdown. He's earned most of his seven wins and $100,000+ bankroll this year.
"Probably my favourite horse of them all going into the Super Finals is my three-year-old colt Codename Cigar Box. He's proven to be half tough in races and he comes to play," said Hoerdt. "As always, things need to go your way no matter how good your horse is. They have to go less your way if your horse is better, but still, anything can happen in the Super Finals. We're going for big money. Just expect one thing for sure: the unexpected."
Sobey trainee Dragon Energy will have to overcome post eight in order to defend his Super Final title in this division for breeders Kurt and Kathy Schmidt and partner Robert James. A freshman star last year winning six of his seven starts and becoming the fastest two-year-old at Century Downs, the Custard The Dragon-Tik Tik Vroom gelding is two-for-eight so far in his sophomore campaign. Tyler Redwood picks up the catch-drive for Sunday's finale.
To view complete entries for Sunday's card of harness racing, click on one of the following links: Sunday Entries — Program Pages (courtesy TrackIT).