The front end was the place to be during stakes action on Saturday, Oct. 14 at The Loop.
Trust Me Alot lowered her own divisional track standard with a 2:04.2 score in the $10,500 MSSBA Juvenile Stakes for two-year-old pacers. Tyler Grundy used his inside advantage along the pylons to front the field early and then make every call a winning one en route to the 2:04.2 decision over favoured Lookinlikeamillion (Richard Remillard) and Choozetocruise (Cory Manning).
Paying $10.80 to win, Trust Me Alot (Trust The Artist - Alot Of Sense) now sports four top-two finishes in five lifetime appearances for breeder-owner Aurel Vodon of Virden, Man. Jacqueline Grundy trains.
AK Nite Lady was never better than she was on Saturday, going all the way for driver Marc Fillion to earn a new 2:01.2 lifetime mark in the $7,671 MSSBA Silk Lace Stakes for three-year-old pacing fillies. She was a length better than pocket-sitting stablemate AK Black Badger (Michel Rey) with Maching Millions (Blake Piwniuk) rounding out the top trio.
Kevin Hildebrandt trains and co-owns AK Nite Lady (Andreoli Hanover - Dawns Early Rise) along with Katie MacLennan of Winnipeg, Man. Paying $6 to win, AK Nite Lady picked up her fifth career victory and lifted her earnings to $27.649.
A consistently in-the-money sophomore, Braxtons Boy scored by more than seventh lengths in the $7,608 MSSBA Golden Boy Stakes for three-year-old male pacers. Michel Rey asked Braxtons Boy to play catch-me-if-you-can against his four rivals through panels of :30.3, 1:02.1 and 1:33.1. That tempo was too much for his rivals to handle on this occasion, and a :29 final panel was the salt in the wound of a 2:02.1 Saturday smackdown. Baylor Bobby (Clayton Braybrook) was next best with 1-9 favourite Irish Luke (Piwniuk) a non-factor in third.
A homebred of trainer Richard and Janet Rey of St. Claude, Man., Braxtons Boy (Whosurboy - Nitrous Force) now sports a 4-4-1-1 summary from 10 lifetime appearances with $22,564 in earnings. He paid $10.80 to win.
Trevor Williams was shut out in the stakes events, but the meet's leading trainer picked up a grand slam in overnight action. Victories for Williams included the Piwniuk-guided quartet of Tuff As Buff (2:01.3, $2.10) in the second race, Rarebuilt (2:03.2, $8.40) in the fourth race, Irish Melvin (2:01.4, $4.10) in the sixth and HF Flower (1:59.4, $6) in the $8,500 Winners Over event in the seventh.
To view the full results from Saturday's card of harness racing in Winnipeg, click the following link: Saturday Results - The Loop.