Friday and Saturday night stakes action heats up at Northlands Park with eliminations for the Western Canada Pacing Derby as well as the filly companion event, the Northlands Filly Pace.
With harness racing returning to Northlands Park in Edmonton for a short winter meet, the top three-year-old pacers are set to tangle in their respective Western Canada Pacing Derby and Northlands Filly Pace eliminations this Friday and Saturday trying to stamp their way to next weekend’s finals. Both stakes have a pair of $10,000 eliminations with $70,000 finals up for grabs on Saturday, December 3.
On Saturday, the two Western Canada Pacing Derby eliminations will be contested, carded as races 8 and 9 on the program.
First Elimination
The first elimination appears to contain a plethora of story lines and may require hitting the all button. The speedy but erratic Appellate has the rail for Hall of Famer Keith Clark and has garnered 9-5 morning line favouritism.
Tolly Ho (Kim Dressler) comes in with three wins in just four career starts but tangles with stakes types for the first time. Credit Risk (Bill Tainsh) has shipped in from B.C. and looks a threat, having picked up a cheque in each start this year. Blue Star Maverick (Mike Hennessy) has proven he can tangle with the big boys and Real Buzz (Jamie Gray)has shocked before for trainer Carl Archibald.
Second Elimination
The second elimination appears to have a star-studded cast of players and could very well be determined by who gets the trip. Century Downs' track record holder Blue Star Jet (Rod Hennessy) has loads of talent but has been inconsistent for the Hennessy barn. Lately, it’s been all or nothing for the Blue Burner colt who was voted Alberta Two-Year-Old Colt & Gelding champ for 2015. If he shows up he could be a wire-to-wire threat.
Wrangler Cash, Alberta Sired Two-Year-Old Colt & Gelding champ for 2015 can be excused from his latest effort as he broke stride early for Kelly Hoerdt. He can be dangerous with the right trip. Outlaw Turn N Burn (J.F. Gagne) could not be more impressive using a five-wide trip to nail down the narrow victory in his Super Final stake for three-year-old colts and geldings back on October 29 at Century Downs. He's saddled with post 9 but is still the 5-2 morning line choice.
There are a few options for punters looking for the value play. At 24-1, Prairie Mystic from the Watt stable used a five-wide move in his Super Final only to come short by a neck. He usually gets overlooked at the pari-mutuels nearly going off at double digits every time but he may be hard to discount completely.
B.C. invader One Big Cat, who was favoured in the Murphy Series Final at Fraser Downs, lost all hope as he broke stride early. The American Ideal colt sports a very respectable 16-7-3-1 lifetime record good for just under $100,000 in lifetime earnings. Chalk Player, an Ontario import for the Campbell barn, has flashed some talent and was a decent third to the aforementioned Prairie Mystic. The Camluck gelding will have the red-hot Brandon Campbell in the bike to call the shots. Brandon Campbell won the 2016 National Driving Championship (NDC) back on Friday, Oct. 14 at The Raceway at the Western Fair District in London, Ont. and will represent Canada in the 2017 World Driving Championship at various racetracks across the country next August.
Fans can also enter the I Love Canadian Harness Racing Western Canada Pacing Derby Online Handicapping Contest, with a chance to win a $50 gift card to the racetrack of your choice and $50 in Fan Club swag.
Northlands Park Racetrack and Casino will offer eleven dashes on Friday and ten races on Saturday with a first race post time of 6:30 p.m. each day. Northlands Park’s 14-day winter meet concludes on December 31.
(A Trot Insider Exclusive by Frank Fontana)