Alberta's reigning divisional champion Senga Nitro and trainer/driver Ryan Grundy stole the show with a dominant open-length victory in Sunday afternoon's $20,000 Gordon Rumpel sophomore stakes divisions at Century Downs Racetrack and Casino.
Senga Nitro looped early leaver Tim Hurtins (Brandon Campbell) at the :28.4 quarter mark and forced the oncoming 20-1 shot Mr Peterman (Bill Tainsh Jr.) to take a tuck into the pocket through a :57 half. The overwhelming 1-9 favourite then began to open up on top on the way to three-quarters in 1:26 and extended his lead to seven and a half lengths to post a big mile with a :28.4 final frame. The winning time of 1:54.4 was a new career mark for the sophomore Blue Burner-Nells Sweet Future gelding, who holds the 1:55.4 freshman track record. Wabash Cannonball (Kelly Hoerdt) overtook Mr Peterman down the stretch in the race for place.
After going six-for-eight and earning $94,766 as a two-year-old for owner/breeder Kenneth Gunn, Senga Nitro started his sophomore season competing in the Keith Linton Memorial Stakes at Fraser Downs, where he won his elimination and picked up a cheque in the $75,000 final. After today's victory, he now boasts $113,516 in career earnings.
Rod Starkewski's homebred colt Getup Gideon nosed out American Dreamer to earn his first stakes win in the other $20,000 Gordon Rumpel division with Phil Giesbrecht in the sulky.
Sent postward as the 9-2 third wagering choice, Getup Gideon established the lead from post three during a :28.2 opening quarter and proceeded to carve out middle splits of :57.2 and 1:26.3 before holding off American Dreamer (Kelly Hoerdt), who advanced first-over from mid-field down the backstretch and just missed in a photo finish for the win. Getup Gideon prevailed in 1:56.1, with his 33-1 stablemate Retros Mystery (Bill Tainsh Jr.) following three-quarters of a length behind in third off a pocket trip. Favourite Ima Dude (Brandon Campbell) finished fifth behind his stablemate, Amysterytome (Jim Marino).
A single-race winner at two, the son of Blue Burner and Sureshowedu has now won back-to-back starts to push his lifetime earnings to $48,403 from 14 career outings.
To view Sunday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Sunday Results - Century Downs.