Champagne Phil wins Harness The Hope Pace

Champagne Phil was a fitting harness racing winner on Harness The Hope Day in rein to Natasha Day, who wore pink silks for the featured race on Sunday afternoon (August 22) at Clinton Raceway.

Adore Him and Travis Henry established the lead in the $5,500 Harness The Hope Pace with Champagne Phil and Day third through a :28.2 first quarter. As the field rounded the turn and raced in front of the grandstand for the first time, the favoured Life Is Better moved first-up from fourth for J Harris with Streakazana and Tyler Moore following the cover.

Adore Him rolled past the half-mile mark in :58 and continued to lead to three-quarters in 1:27 while Streakazana backed away and Champagne Phil was able to pick up the cover on the backstretch.

Day then sent Champagne Phil three-wide into the stretch and the 11-year-old gelding flew by with the pink silks flashing across the wire as he stopped the clock in 1:56.4. The late-closing Heza Handy Man, driven by Mike Horner, finished 1-1/4 lengths behind in second while Life Is Better edged out Adore Him for third.

Champagne Phil, the 3-1 second choice, returned $7.90 to win. Trained by Ken Oliver for ICR Racing, the son of Shanghai Phil has won back-to-back races and four of his 12 starts this year. Lifetime, he boasts 47 victories and $616,926 in purses earnings.

Founded by the Dustin Family 16 years ago, Harness the Hope is an event hosted by Ontario racetracks that aims to raise funds, awareness and support for programs that help those affected by cancer. Proceeds benefit the Breast Cancer Society of Canada and the Pink Pearl Foundation.

Clinton Raceway posted a season high handle of $92,550 for the 11-race card. The live racing season continues next Sunday at 1:30 PM. For more information, please visit: https://clintonraceway.com/, 

From Clinton Raceway