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With horse racing in Canada currently on hiatus, some Ontario horsepeople have ventured south of the border and have had some luck in recent weeks.
Driver Brett MacDonald, a regular at The Raceway at the Western Fair District, has been doing it and doing it well at Northfield Park – coming off a huge Mares Open Pace victory with Bettor Trix N for New Jersey’s Curtin Anz Stable and trainer Patrick Shepherd. She literally ran the competition off their feet on Saturday night (Feb. 6) as a pair of favourites made breaks going to the quarter mile just as she made the front. She controlled fractions of :26.4, :56.1 and 1:24.3 and used a :29 final frame to win easily in 1:53.3. Bettor Trix N had been a regular upper-class mare on the Ontario circuit for trainer J.R. Plante prior to shipping south in the new year.
Brave World and Buttermilk Hanover found their way to victory lane in their respective Preferred assignments Monday evening at The Raceway at Western Fair District, and they both did so in come-from-behind fashion.
Brave World, who was sent off as the even-money choice in the $8,500 Horses & Geldings Preferred 3, turned a two-hole trip into a half-length score in his assignment.
Brett MacDonald tracked Chocolate Swirl through fractions of :26.4, :56.2 and 1:25.4 with Brave World before popping out and stepping home in :30.3 to defeat that foe in 1:56.3. Maximus Power came on late to finish third.
Kevin McMaster trains the six-year-old son of Royal Mattjesty-Fit N Bad for Thestable Brave World of Guelph, Ont. The victory was his fourth of the season and the 26th of his career. The $4,250 payday lifted the pacer’s lifetime earnings to $324,497.