Two-year-olds head to battle in Century stakes

Two-year-old pacers will go to battle once again at Century Downs as the harness racing stake season continues in Alberta.

The girls will compete for $25,000 in the Emerald Filly Pace while the colts and geldings will also go for $25,000 in the Rocky Mountain Boys. These races will take place on Saturday afternoon (Oct. 29).

Emerald Filly Pace Two-Year-Old Fillies First Division (Race 2)

The morning line favourite coming in at even money, Promise Kept (Custard The Dragon) will be looking for a better result this time out as she just came up short her last race. She and Brandon Campbell finished second in the Alberta Sires Stakes Super Final. In Promise Kept’s first six lifetime starts, she visited the winner’s circle four times and finished second in her other two starts. Her one saving grace heading into Saturday’s race is that the only filly she has ever lost to drew into the second division which will be talked about later.

Caviar N Crackers (Captive Audience) snuck onto the trifecta ticket last time in that Alberta Sires Stakes Super Final and looks to continue that trend. Her last win came back on October 1st and she achieved the new lifetime mark of 1:57.2. Michael Hennessy is scheduled to be in the sulky on Saturday and the duo will look to get Caviar N Crackers’ third lifetime win.

Emerald Filly Pace Two-Year-Old Fillies Second Division (Race 3)

Cora Cora Cora (Captive Audience) will be coming into this one feeling hot after her big win in the Alberta Sires Stakes Super Final. Trainer Jamie Grey will be teaming up with the young filly once again and a win on Saturday would put the two-year-old over $100,000 in earnings. However, don’t start the victory parade yet because there is some stiff competition standing in Cora Cora Cora’s way.

Cenalta Token (Mystery Chase) is sitting at 7-2 morning line odds and is hoping to get her first lifetime win. She will team up with driver David Kelly who is inching closer to hitting 200 wins as a driver in 2022. He’s having the best year as a driver by far with over $1.2 million in purse earnings sitting in the sulky this year.

Waitingonawoman (Custard The Dragon) is also hoping to book her first visit to the winner’s circle on Saturday. Trainer Nathan Sobey will once again team up with his young filly and they will be looking to play spoiler in this one.

Rocky Mountain Boys Pace Two-Year-Old Colts & Geldings First Division (Race 5)

One Major Hottie (Mystician) is posted as the morning line favourite at odds of 2-1 although he has not had the opportunity to get his picture taken in the winner’s circle before. In his first seven starts, the best he’s done was a second-place finish. Trainer Brandon Campbell will be in charge of the reins on Saturday and will look to fight off their competition.

The Dickens (Custard The Dragon) has notched two wins so far in his short racing career but did not get respect from the odds maker. He currently has the lifetime mark of 1:57.1 which was achieved with Phillip Giesbrecht riding along. Giesbrecht will once again team up with The Dickens and they will look to shake things up in this one.

Rocky Mountain Boys Pace Two-Year-Old Colts & Geldings Second Division (Race 6)

Brandon Campbell will be looking to sweep both divisions of the Rocky Mountain Boys Pace with Virtual Horizon (Vertical Horizon). While coming in at even odds, the young colt is looking to win his third straight race. Virtual Horizon was able to smash his lifetime mark by a whole second when he won the Alberta Sires Stakes Super Final in the time of 1:55.0.

Ponder No Longer (Smart Shark) will look to continue his perfect streak of finishing in the top three going. In seven lifetime starts he has finished in the top three all seven times. Ponder No Longer’s lifetime mark of 1:58.1 will need to be better if he thinks he can steal this one away from Virtual Horizon.

Tin Can Timmy’s (BJS Bequia) lifetime mark of 1:55.4 is more on pace with the morning line favourites and he was also able to get the inside post position. Logan Gillis will be tasked with driving duties for Tin Can Timmy and the last time this two teamed up was when he earned that lifetime mark.

Fillies & Mares Preferred (Race 4)

The Fillies & Mares preferred is sandwiched in between the stake races and they will be racing for their share of the $13,500 purse.

Stash the Cookies (Sunfire Blue Chip) will be making her 70th start and a win would put her over $100,000 in purse earnings this year. Stash the Cookies’ lifetime mark of 1:51.2 was achieved back in August and will be tough to beat on Saturday. She is the favourite at 9-5 morning line odds, and she drew the outside sixth post position.

If Only Id Known (Shadow Play) will line up in post position five and the Nathan Sobey trained mare is hoping to earn her 12th lifetime win. When she earned her lifetime mark of 1:52.1, she finished ahead of Stash the Cookies and is hoping to do so once again.

The morning line long shot at 10-1 is Mrs Suhwiggins (Custard the Dragon). Saturday will be her 98th lifetime start. She is inching closer to the 100th start and a win on Saturday would be a nice feather to put in her cap.

Post time at Century Downs is at 1:15 PM MDT.

For complete race entries, click here.

by Trey Colbeck, for Harnesslink