24-hour preview of Century Downs Super Saturday

We are 24 hours away from Alberta Sire Stakes Super Finals Day at Century Downs on Saturday, Oct. 15, and harness racing fans across western Canada are excited to see who will emerge as the top pacer in each Finals category. Each final will go for a purse of $75,000 and don’t forget the Jackpot Pick 5 that starts in Race 7.

ABSS Finals

 Race 7

First up for the ABSS Finals is the two-year-old filly division and the morning line favourite Promise Kept (Custard The Dragon), at 4-5 odds, will come out of first post position. Brandon Campbell is scheduled to drive this filly which he also trains. Promise Kept has won four out of her five starts and finished second in the other. Her current lifetime mark of 1:56.3 was achieved in her debut back in July and she could easily surpass that in Saturday’s seventh race.

Only one horse has beaten the morning line favourite and that is Cora Cora Cora (Captive Audience). This young filly will come out of post position six and will team up with her trainer Jamie Gray. Her lifetime mark is the equivalent to Promise Kept’s and this could set up a late dual down the stretch.

 Race 8

Next up is the two-year-old colt and gelding division and two colts quickly catch your eye in the program. The morning line favourite, Tin Can Timmy (BJs Bequia) has his odds at 3-2 and teams up with driver David Kelly. This colt has made six-lifetime starts and has visited the winner’s circle on three occasions. The fastest win this Kelly Crump trained colt has been 1:55.4 and he has earned over $22,000 so far this year.

Brandon Campbell will look to sweep both two-year-old divisions as a driver and trainer with his entrant Virtual Horizon (Vertical Horizon). This colt comes into Saturday’s race with morning line odds at 5-2 and has made five-time starts to this point. Virtual Horizon has won 2 of those starts and has the lifetime mark of 1:56.0. This son of Vertical Horizon has earned over $48,000 in his short racing career and will look to add to it with a portion of the $75,000 in purse winnings on the line.

 Race 9

There is a pretty clear favourite in the three-year-old filly division, and she goes by the name of Divine Art (Outrageous Art). Nathan Sobey trains her and will also team up with her in the sulky on Saturday. The 2022 race line for this young filly is remarkable. Divine Art has made 12 starts this year and has been crowned the victor in nine of those races. She has only finished out the top three once this year and that came back in May. Currently, she is sitting on an eight-race win streak, and she will look to make it nine on Saturday.

The real battle on paper is for second place.  Chaste Forever sits at 4-1 morning line odds and is making her 17th start on Saturday. She currently stands at $73,455 in lifetime earnings and she will be trying to hit the $100,000 mark in this race.  The other filly to watch out for is Daisy Corvette and she will be wearing the yellow number 6 saddle cloth.  She stands at $56,722 in lifetime earnings and will most likely be battling it out for a spot in race 9’s exactor payouts.

Race 10

The last Finals race of the day is for the three-year-old colt and gelding division, and this is where things get interesting. The morning line favourite, Ernesto Delacruz (Vertical Horizon) sits at 4-5 and gets the advantage of the inside post position. This Jean Francois Gagne trained gelding shares his name with the villain in Disney Pixar’s Coco. He looks to play the villain in this race and hopefully win his ninth race of the year.

Phillip Giesbrecht will look to spoil the fun with Vegas Gambler (Mystery Chase). The Rodney Starkweski trained colt sits at 3-1 morning line odds and will be wearing the green number four saddle cloth. Vegas Gambler is just shy of $100,000 in earnings this year and any high finish should get him over that mark.

The other pacer to watch for in this race is Matts A Mystician (Mystician). Nathan Sobey teams up with him and they are looking for their third straight win together. Currently, the duo is sitting at 4-1 morning line odds but only has $18,826 in lifetime earnings. Any high finish on Saturday could nearly double that amount.

Consolations and Other Notes

The consolation races will go race 2 through 5 and they each have a purse of $15,000. Each of the same four divisions as the Super Finals has a consolation and another chance to provide these young pacers an extra paycheck.

Four drivers are scheduled to make an appearance in all eleven races on the day. They are Brandon Campbell, Nathan Sobey, Michael Hennessy, and Kelly Hoerdt.  Phillip Giesbrecht and Jamie Grey are entered to drive in ten of the eleven races.

Post time is at 1:15 PM local Mountain time.

For complete race entries, click here.

by Trey Colbeck, for Harnesslink