Celebrity Bambino rallies in $660,000 Canadian Trotting Classic

Celebrity Bambino (Muscle Hill) outkicked his cover and held off a late challenger to win harness racing’s $660,000 Canadian Trotting Classic at Woodbine Mohawk Park on Saturday (Sep. 23).

Yannick Gingras started the colt fourth as longshot Little Expensive (Andy Miller) blasted to the front in a :26.3 first panel. Celebrity Bambino launched a first-over move coming down the backstretch and flushed out pocket-sitting favourite Up Your Deo (Ake Svanstedt) just past the half in :56.1.

Up Your Deo gradually gained on Little Expensive as they raced past three-quarters in 1:24, and the challenger took over at the top of the stretch. He had Celebrity Bambino treading water into the last eighth of a mile, but Gingras’s charge battled Up Your Deo as they neared the finish. Winners Bet (Dexter Dunn) closed quickest on the far outside, cutting down the lead late, but Celebrity Bambino was home in time to take the Grand Circuit event in 1:51.4.

Winners Bet was second, and longshot Hasty Bid (James MacDonald) came up the pylons for third.

CELEBRITY BAMBINO REPLAY

Celebrity Bambino has won four of his 12 outings this season and was favoured in the Hambletonian. The Ron Burke-trained colt is now nine-for-24 lifetime with $936,070 in the bank. Burke Racing Stable of Fredericktown co-owns Celebrity Bambino with J&T Silva Stables of Jericho, Knox Services of Mt. Vernon, and Phillip Collura of Mountain Top.

For ongoing race results, click here.

by Nicholas Barnsdale, for Harnesslink