In advance of his quest to capture the 2017 World Driving Championship on home soil, Brandon Campbell will focus on the stakes season set to begin this weekend at Century Downs.
Saturday's card (April 29) at Century features the first stakes event of the season with two divisions of the Moores Mile for three-year-old pacing fillies. He has picked up drives in both divisions and speaks very highly of Grinandchaseit (PP8, 3-1)
"I'm quite confident that Grinandchaseit is the one to beat so far this year," Campbell told Trot Insider on Thursday. "You can throw last week's line away; I took her back and got completely separated from the race. She gave me a huge third quarter and we were four-high through the turn, I asked her to go and at the same time horse the in front of me drifted out. I had to check her sideways and she went offstride."
A homebred daughter of Mystery Chase - Terrified Grin, Grinandchaseit has a 3-2-0 record from nine seasonal starts for trainer Carl Archibald and his Meadowlark Farms. Despite another outside post, Campbell predicts a different outcome this week.
"We have the eight hole again but I can guarantee you we will be in the race this week. She has a great attitude and the speed to go with it."
In the second division Campbell will drive Tricky Bet (PP7, 8-1) for the first time. The daughter of Bettors Delight - Dominatricks is a half-sister to former free-legged standout Major Hottie. She comes into this event for new trainer Brent Bodor off a fourth-place finish in the Penny Bath Memorial Final at Fraser Downs.
Shifting over to Sunday, Campbell has first-hand knowledge of his drives as the Calgary-based horseman also trains his Gord Rumpel Memorial horses. In the first $20,000 division Campbell comes in with a pair of chances. He'll handle morning line choice Ima Dude (PP7, 5-2) while handing over the lines on Amysterytome (PP4, 9-2) to Jim Marino. In the second he'll send out Tim Hurtins (PP4, 9-2) for his seasonal debut.
"I was thrilled with their first starts; Amysterytome is a nice colt and I think he will get his fair share of cheques in the stakes this year as long as he holds together," said Campbell.
Amysterytome (Mystery Chase - Takemetotheriver) paced a solid 1:55.4 mile in his first start of 2017, a runner-up effort to Getup Gideon -- who lines up beside him in Post 3. In 2016, Amysterytome posted a solid 2-2-1 summary from six starts for owners Alberta-based owners Timothy Kane, Gary Zima and Mike Dicks.
Kane is also in on the ownership of Ima Dude, who made noise late in the year with his 1:53.4 track record performance in the $100,000 Robert Millbank Memorial Breeders Stakes at Fraser Downs. His 2-5-1 summary was enough to garner honours at BC's two-year-old pacing colt of the year. He tuned up for the Rumpel with a 1:56.1 romp on April 23 at Century.
"I think Ima Dude has the potential to be a very nice horse; everything he does he does right," Campbell continued. "He's not a flashy colt, he doesn't really show you training what he's got so it's hard to make a call on him but what he has shown so far is very promising."
Ima Dude (Lil Dude Starrbuck - Ethel Seelster) boasts more than $88,000 in purses for owners Kane and Calgarians Jodi Loftus and George Rogers.
First race post time for the Saturday and Sunday cards is slated for 1:10 p.m. (MST) To view the entries for Century Downs, click on one of the following links: