One race after a fall, Piwniuk wins stake

Harness racing driver Blake Piwniuk returned to the sulky immediately after an accident at Miami Fair on Saturday (Aug. 27) to win the MSSBA Futurity final.

The fifth race was declared a no contest when All Speculation, pulling Piwniuk, fell at the start and caused Don Howlett to fall from the bike of Sparkthedragon.

The Manitoba Harness Racing Twitter account wrote that both horses “seemed to be fine,” and, according to Standardbred Canada, All Speculation walked off the track. Piwniuk also walked away from the incident. Howlett was taken to the hospital and reportedly sustained a broken femur.

In the next race, Piwniuk sat behind Irish Melvin (Mystery Chase) and guided the colt to a wire-to-wire victory in the MSSBA (Manitoba Standardbred Sires and Breeders Association) Futurity for three-year-old pacers. The pair led through :30, 1:00.1, and 1:30.1 fractions before streaking away by six-and-a-half lengths in a 2:00.2 victory.

Emmetts Buddy (Tyler Grundy), the winner of last week’s Manitoba Great Western Stake, finished second. This Girl Rules (George Isman) passed two rivals late for third.

Irish Melvin has now won four of his six starts and has earned $20,910 in his delayed debut season. J. David Mooney of Wawanesa bred the colt and has assigned him to trainer Travis Ellis.

Andys Treasure (Andreoli Hanover, Grundy) swung out from behind the leading pair and prevailed by a length-and-three-quarters to score an 8-1 upset in the Kindergarten Stake earlier on the card. Ak Nite Lady (Howlett) finished second. Irish Luke (Piwniuk) was 15 lengths back in third.

Piwniuk rung in with four winners on the card. Ellis trained half of the day’s 12 winners.

Racing at Miami Fair continues on Saturday, Sep. 3 as preparations continue for Manitoba harness racing to move to The Loop.

For complete race results, click here.

by Nicholas Barnsdale, for Harnesslink