2YO Alberta Sires Stakes headline Saturday at Century Downs

Century Downs will host a 11-dash card full of harness racing action. The action includes the ABSS Starlet for two-year-old fillies and the ABSS Rising Stars which is for rookie pacing boy.

A free program can be found here.

19 fillies draw into three divisions for the ABSS Starlet. The first is scheduled for the second race and the next two follow immediately after.

Hot Shot Shark (Smart Shark) has the fastest mile time of any filly in the first division at 1:57. The speedy mile was her first win which also came in her first career start. Since then, she won again in the Emerald Filly Pace in a wire-to-wire effort and stopped the clock at  1:57.4.

Hot Shot Shark is the only filly in any of the divisions to be a perfect two-for-two. She is the only Rodney Starkewski trained filly in the first split but is one of three that draw into the event on Saturday.  Logan Gillis is assigned driving duties of Hot Shot Shark once again.

HOT SHOT SHARK REPLAY

The only other filly in the first field that has a win is Custard Dolce (Custard The Dragon). She won the other Emerald Filly Pace division in 1:58.1. This was after a fourth-place finish in her racing debut. Jamie Gray trains and drives the homegrown filly that he co-owns with Jackson Wittup, Max Gibb and Derek Wilson. Custard Dolce is one of two Gray fillies that were drawn into the event.

CUSTARD DOLCE REPLAY

The only filly with a win on her record in the second division is Ahoof Ahead (Custard The Dragon). She won just last week at  Track On 2 in 1:57.4 after qualifying there in 2:04. It will be the first time the Douglas Strout-trained filly will race on the 11/16th track at Century Downs but will have the luxury of an inside post. She is also the Strout entry in the ABSS Starlet. Phillip Giesbrecht will have his first drive behind Ahoof Ahead on Saturday.

The Winds Of Change filly Blowing In the Wind has finished second in both of her career starts. In her last start, she finished just behind Hot Shot Shark in the Emerald Filly Pace. She only lost by a neck and even had a faster last quarter time but couldn’t get the job done. She also lost to Hot Shot Shark in her debut and once again had the faster last quarter but just fell short. Now that Blowing In The Wind doesn’t have to face Hot Shot Shark, this could be a race for the taking. Brandon Campbell will drive the Harold Haining trained filly.  

None of the seven fillies that draw into the third ABSS Starlet division have made it to the winner’s circle. The closest to doing so is Eyes Up Here (Smart Shark) which has the only top-three finish in the group. She finished third in the Emerald Filly Pace behind Hot Shot Shark and Blowing In The Wind. Eyes Up Here’s mile time was still solid enough to be the fastest in the field. The David Kelly trained filly also paced a qualifying mile of 2:02.1. Kelly himself will be in the bike at post time.

There will only be two divisions of eight each in the ABSS Rising Star for two-year-old colts & geldings. None of the eight in the first split have yet to earn a win but two have gotten close with a second-place finish each.

The morning line favourite, Momas Work Of Art (Outrageous Art) finished second in the Norm Kennedy Memorial a couple of weeks ago. His mile time was recorded at 1:56.4 and he lost out to Ima Rum Runner who draws in the second split. Momas Work Of Art also has a pair of qualifying miles on his lines and he paced those miles in 2:00.4 and 1:59. Serge Masses will be in the bike as his eyes his second driving win of 2024. Shelly Assenault also will be looking for her second training win of the year.

Crime Junkie (Captive Audience) is the other to have a top-three finish.  After finishing sixth in the Norm Kennedy, he bounced back with a second place just behind Ahoof Ahead at Track On 2. Although he lost by a couple of lengths, he still posted a 1:58 mile but has yet to do anything similar at Century Downs. Jacque Lambert trains the young gelding and David Kelly will be in the sulky.

The second division hosts the only one to have a win in the ABSS Rising Star which is Ima Rum Runner (Captain Deo). He won the Norm Kennedy in 1:56.3 and that was after a third-place effort in his racing debut. It will be tough to beat the Nathan Sobey-trained gelding in this one.

IMA RUM RUNNER REPLAY

Dont Shoot Luke (Custard The Dragon) is the only other horse in the second split to have a top-three finish. He finished third in the Norm Kennedy behind Ima Rum Runner and Momas Work Of Art. He can pace sub-2:00 miles which will certainly be needed to beat Ima Rum Runner on Saturday. Michael Hennesy is given driving duties from trainer, Travis Ellis.

The card also features two eliminations for the Ralph Klein Memorial for three-year-old colts & geldings. Both go for $12,500 and the finals are next week along with the Gord & Illa Rumpel Memorial for three-year-old fillies.

The first race kicks off at 3:45 p.m. EST.

by Trey Colbeck, for Harnesslink