Virtual Horizon makes it nine-for-nine in $59,000 Maverick

Virtual Horizon (Vertical Horizon) won his ninth consecutive race at three and captured the $59,000 Alberta Sires Stakes Maverick for three-year-old pacing colts to maintain his perfect harness racing season on Saturday (Jul. 22) at Century Downs.

Brandon Campbell provided the colt the front, and Virtual Horizon got the job done. He set :27.2, :55.4, and 1:24.2 panels and put four lengths between himself and Over The Horizon (Nathan Sobey) turning for home. The pocket-sitter removed blowout status, cutting the margin to a length-and-three-quarters, but Virtual Horizon was much the best and scored in 1:53.3. General Custard (David Kelly) was well back in third.

VIRTUAL HORIZON REPLAY

Virtual Horizon, whom Campbell also trains, is unbeaten this year and is 12-for-16 lifetime. He is a defending Alberta Sires Stakes champion and has earned $222,438 for Calgarians Jodi Loftus, George Rogers, and Raymond Henry.

G Ts Skyla (Mystician, Logan Gillis) won the twin stake for fillies, the $56,600 ABSS Marquis. The filly, second-over down the backside, circled her cover and moved up to challenge leader Beep Bop A Lula through three-quarters. The besieged pacesetter gained back a slight edge turning for home, but she wasn’t able to stop G Ts Skyla from rolling a length clear to a 1:55.1 victory. Nonversation (Michael Hennesy) was best of the rest.

G TS SKYLA REPLAY

The win made G Ts Skyla five-for-six on the season. She also won the $90,000 Shirly McClennan Memorial in June. Scott McGinn trains the filly, who has seven tallies in 10 career starts and a bankroll of $114,125. He co-owns her with Gerald, Marjorie, and Terry McGinn.

The card also featured the first stakes racing for two-year-olds of the year in Alberta. There were two divisions each of the Emerald Filly Pace and Norm Kennedy Memorial for pacing fillies and colts, respectively. Lumby Dragon (Custard The Dragon, Phil Giesbrecht, 1:56.3) and Long Gone Lover (Winds Of Change, Sobey, 1:59) were the victorious fillies. Heavy favourite Grey Horizon (Vertical Horizon, Campbell, 1:58.3) took the first group in the Norm Kennedy, and Sharkasaurus (Prince Sharka, Hennessy, 1:59.3) snagged the second.

Saturday was also day two of the Women in Racing event at Century Downs. Driver Natasha Day from Ontario featured in the fifth race, the Women in Racing Invitational. She finished fourth with Grampian Road in a race dominated by Crazy I M (Sobey). Heather Vitale and Casie Coleman were also part of the celebration.

Century Downs’s next card is set for Friday, Jul. 28

For complete race results, click here.

by Nicholas Barnsdale, for Harnesslink