Raising Richard stretched his win streak in Rideau Carleton Raceway's $6,650 Winners Over Handicap Trot to three with a wire-to-wire score amid April showers on Sunday night.
Raising Richard was teamed up with driver Darrell Coville for the third straight week and the winning duo took the lead off the gate from post five. They set fractions of :29, 1:00.1 and 1:29.4 without any threats until the stretch, when Schrader Hanover (Guy Gagnon) and Alacrity (Ted McDonald) tipped out from second and third and closed in but were ultimately unable to improve their positions. Raising Richard won by three-quarters of a length in 1:59.2 over the "good" track.
Sent postward as the 1-9 favourite after a 1:57 career-best performance a week ago, Raising Richard paid $2.20 to win.
Ed McHale trains the five-year-old gelded son of Deweycheatumnhowe and Raising The Bar for John MacMillan and 2099551 Ontario Inc. The win was the fourth of the year from nine races for Raising Richard.
It was a different story in the co-featured $6,800 Winners Over Handicap Pace as Killer Thriller took the lead from the popular pacesetter, Mach On The Beach, in the stretch for a 12-1 upset.
Mach On The Beach (Stephane Brosseau) cleared to command at the :26.4 first quarter mark after a cavalry charge off the gate then turned back first-over challenger Nobettorplacetobe (Sylvain Lacaille) after a middle-half duel through panels of :57.3 and 1:26.4. Meanwhile, Killer Thriller had tracked the cover of Nobettorplacetobe and when he waved the white flag, Killer Thriller went wide and overtook the front-striding 8-5 favourite in the stretch for the 1:56 win, with Shanghai Kang (Guy Gagnon) also rallying from the outer flow to finish second, one and a half lengths behind. Pocket-sitter Highland Tartan (Darrell Colville) grabbed third prize.
Killer Thriller earned his third win from 11 starts this season and returned $26.80 to his backers at the betting windows. Trainer Karen Kroeger bred and owns the five-year-old Jeremes Jet-Thrillicious gelding with Gilles Plourde.
Rideau's leading driver Guy Gagnon steered the most winners on Sunday (three), with his own trainee Private Interview among them as the 10-year-old gelding notched his sixth straight victory in a $5,500 conditioned/optional claiming pace.
To view Sunday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Sunday Results - Rideau Carleton Raceway.