Records fall at Western Canada tracks

Western Canada harness racing horses flew on Saturday (Sep. 9) with three track record performances across two venues.

On opening day at Century Mile, regional powerhouse Shark Week (Vertical Horizon) tied the aged record, and Stash The Cookies (Sunfire Blue Chip) took down the standard for an aged pacing mare. Thirteen hundred kilometres eastward, I Will Do It (Camluck) romped at Winnipeg’s The Loop and became the fastest horse in the track’s inaugural season.

Shark Week (Michael Hennessy), who became the first horse to break 1:50 in Western Canada earlier this season, captured the Preferred Pace at Century Mile by a length-and-three-quarters in 1:51.2. The clocking matched the record for an aged gelding set in 2019 by Sabine Pass. The wire-to-wire win was his ninth victory in a row, and the Rodney Hennessy-trained gelding is now 34-for-68 lifetime with $299,475 in earnings. Rodney Hennessy co-owns the five-year-old gelding with Lorne Duffield. Shark Week also co-holds the record for an aged pacing stallion at Century Mile, a 1:52.3 mile he paced in 2022 before he was gelded.

In the Century Mile finale, Stash The Cookies knocked two-fifths-of-a-second off the record for an aged pacing mare as she led all the way in 1:52.2. She scored by two-and-a-quarter lengths to dethrone previous record-holder Red Star Katrina. John Chappell trains Stash The Cookies for Derek Gilbert. The seven-year-old mare has tallied 26 wins in 91 career starts and has amassed $274,999.

I Will Do It crushed her opponents by 10-and-a-half lengths at The Loop and extended her win streak to six in a 1:58.2 victory. She toppled the 1:59 mile that Tagoras set last week in the track’s fourth-ever program. I Will Do It, trained by top Manitoba conditioner Trevor Williams, improved her stats to 21 wins and $112,491 in 119 starts with the triumph. Adam Mace, Michael Williams, and Aurel Vodon own the eight-year-old mare.

I WILL DO IT REPLAY

Century Mile will continue its season on Sep. 15 at 6:15 p.m. MDT. Racing will continue at The Loop on Saturday, Sep. 16 at 2:00 p.m. CDT.

For complete Century Mile results, click here.

For complete The Loop results, click here.

by Nicholas Barnsdale, for Harnesslink