Sobey sweeps three-year-old stakes in Midsummer Classic

Nathan Sobey steered the winners of both the $91,920 Gord and Illa Rumpel Memorial and $77,740 Ralph Klein Memorial on the Midsummer Classic harness racing card at Century Downs on Saturday (Aug. 13).

Sobey piloted Divine Art (Outrageous Art) to her fifth consecutive win in the Gord and Illa Rumpel Memorial for three-year-old pacing fillies. He swung his trainee to the lead after securing the pocket early, and the filly battled off Chaste Forever (Michael Hennessy) en route to a 1:53.2 victory.

Daisy Corvette (David Kelly), another Sobey pupil, outkicked Chaste Forever for place. The latter held third.

Divine Art has won nine times in 15 starts. She was an Alberta Sires Stakes champion at two and won the Alberta Diamond earlier this season. Robert Jones of Stony Plain, Diane Bertrand of Edmonton, and John Hind of Calgary co-own the filly.

Sobey then catch-drove the Rodney Starkewski trainee Vegas Gambler (Mystery Chase) in the Ralph Klein Memorial for sophomore pacing colts and geldings. Vegas Gambler swung three-wide on the far turn after watching front-end action from the pocket and forged to the lead in deep-stretch to score in 1:53.4.

Ernesto Delacruz (Jean Francois Gagne) outfinished Lets Tie One On (Kelly Hoerdt) for second.

Vegas Gambler, a three-time stakes winner as a freshman, missed in both the Alberta Sires Stakes Marksman and Moore’s Mile Breeders’ Stake finals after winning his elimination of those events. Overall, he has won nine times and earned $147,276 in 19 lifetime starts. Starkewski, a resident of Lamont, co-owns the colt with Clauzette Byckal of Onoway.

Earlier on the card, Cora Cora Cora (Captive Audience) blew away her two-year-old Alberta-foaled pacing filly opponents in the $70,000 ASHA Filly Pace. She found a seat in fourth from post seven, took over with a backstretch blast, and poured it on in the last quarter under sparse urging from Kelly to cross the finish line nine-and-three-quarter lengths the best in 1:56.3.

Promise Kept (J. Brandon Campbell) topped the chasing pack in second. Captivatethecrowd (Jamie Gray) was third.

The win was Cora Cora Cora’s career first in start number three. Gray trains the filly for Brightstar Stable of Sturgeon County. She was a $33,000 ASHA Yearling Sale purchase.

Virtual Horizon (Vertical Horizon) took the $70,000 Century Casinos Pace for rookie Alberta-foaled colt and gelding pacers by three-and-a-quarter-lengths. Campbell angled his colt out of fourth on the second turn, tipped him three-wide as the field turned for home, and urged him to a 1:56 victory.

Ponder No Longer (Gray) edged out Over The Horizon (Paul Davies) for place.

It was a maiden-breaking victory for Virtual Horizon, who debuted on Jul. 30 in the Century Casinos Pace elimination. Calgary residents Jodi Loftus, George Rogers, and Raymond Henry bought the colt for $21,000 from the ASHA Yearling Sale.

Another highlight of the program was Stash The Cookies’s (Sunfire Blue Chip) record-breaking performance in the Fillies and Mares Preferred. The six-year-old mare popped the pocket for Logan Gillis on the backstretch and soared away in the final panel. She stormed home a seven-length winner in 1:51.2, the fastest mile by a female horse in Century Downs history.

The previous best of 1:52.1 was set earlier this year by Graceful Horizon. Stash The Cookies, trained by Gillis for Derek Gilbert of Brandon, is a 19-time winner in 64 lifetime appearances and has earned $203,604.

Century Downs will take a three-week break before returning to a Tuesday-Saturday schedule beginning on Saturday, Sep. 3.

For complete race results, click here.

by Nicholas Barnsdale, for Harnesslink