The Alberta stakes season will reach its culmination this Saturday night (Nov. 2), when 36 of the finest two- and three-year-old pacers in the prairie province will compete in the $300,000 Alberta Sires Stakes Super Finals at Century Mile.
Just Mac
Juvenile colts and geldings open the quartet of $75,000 finals in the evening's ninth race, and a quartet of three-time winners will join 1:54.4 pacer Just Mac as the prime contenders. Just Mac, who won his Alberta Shooting Star division on October 13 in 1:54.4, has hit the board in six of 10 seasonal starts and is one of two starters in the race for trainer Chris Lancaster. Mike Hennessy is listed to drive Just Mac, a son of Mystician–Nostalgia, from Post 5.
Freddy Two Socks
Lancaster's other starter, Freddy Two Socks (Phil Giesbrecht, Post 1) is a three-time winner with victories in the Lone Star and Risen Star to his credit. Dontpokethedragon (Keith Clark, Post 4), Criminal Record (Kelly Hoerdt, Post 6) and Outlaw Stateofmind (Paul Davies, Post 8) also enter Saturday's final with three wins apiece to date.
Blue Star Dreaming
Two-year-old fillies square off in Race 10, and Blue Star Dreaming will look to extend her win streak to four after a lifetime-best 1:55.2 score in the September 22 Jim Rodgers and a 1:55.3 victory in the Alberta Stardust. Mike Hennessy will drive the daughter of Blue Burner and Movin Uptown for trainer Rod Hennessy from Post 9. Other standouts include Snow Shark (Clark, Post 3), who sprinted off to a three-length win in her Stardust division, and multiple stakes winner Custards Crown (Kelly Hoerdt, Post 8).
Rockin Mystery
The $75,000 three-year-old filly pace, carded as Race 11, could very well prove to be a 'Battle of the Lancasters,' as Chris Lancaster trainee Rockin Mystery (David Kelly, Post 8) and Richard Lancaster trainee Hottieonthehorizon (Kelly Hoerdt, Post 9) will look to build on impressive winning streaks. After scoring ahead of the gate in the $125,000 Don Byrne, Rockin Mystery bounced back to win her next three assignments at Century Mile, including a 1:54.2 outing in the $44,500 Marquis on October 11. Similarly, Hottieonthehorizon has won her last four races, tearing through the Mary Murphy series at Fraser Downs through the last five weeks and taking her 1:55.1 lifetime mark as part of that sequence.
Outlawgrabbingears
The 'glamour boys' division — sophomore pacing colts and geldings — conclude the Super Final quartet in Race 12, and Alberta Maverick winner Outlawgrabbingears will look to build on a nine-win season and nearly a quarter-million dollars in earnings for trainer-driver Paul Davies. The Smart Shark gelding came back from a fourth-place finish in the Western Canada Pacing Derby with straight wins in the Maverick, capped by a sharp 1:51.2 mile in the $45,400 final. Derby runner-up Outlaw Gunsablazin (Jamie Gray) will have to overcome the outside Post 9 for trainer Rod Starkewski, who will also send Maverick runner-up and the other six-figure earner in the field Crackle N Burn (Phil Giesbrecht, Post 2) to post, along with Carro P Thunder (James Jungquist, Post 8).
First post for the Alberta Sires Stakes Super Final card will be at 7:15 p.m. Mountain time. To view complete entries, click the following link: Saturday Entries — Century Mile.