Stacked slate of stakes Saturday at Century Mile

Century Mile will host an 11-dash harness racing card on Saturday (Sep. 23), featuring nine stake races.

Two-year-old fillies will kick the card off with two splits in the ABSS Starlet. Lumby Dragon (Custard The Dragon) will look to keep her perfect start going in the first division. She has won both of her career starts, but the last one came back on July 22. She went wire-to-wire and paced the mile in 1:56.3. Phil Giesbrecht will be in the bike, and the two of them will line in post position five to kick off the day.

Grey Horizon (Vertical Horizon) will look to bounce after not winning for the first time in his racing career last time out in the Century Casino Pace. He draws in the first division of the ABSS Rising Star and comes in as the morning line favourite. Grey Horizon won three straight races to start his career before his second-place finish in the Century Casino Pace. He will be making his first start at Century Mile on Saturday, and Brandon Campbell will be in the bike.

The horse that beat Grey Horizon in the Century Casino Pace Come On Santana (Santanna Blue Chip) draws into the second division and is attempting to get a third straight win. He put up a 1:55.4 last time out at Track On 2 while teaming up with Jamie Grey. Grey will be in the bike once again as the two look to continue their strong form.

A three-year-old filly to watch out for on the card is G Ts Skyla (Mystician). She draws into the first elimination for the ABSS Princess. She has won seven of her eight starts this year, and her one blemish was a second-place finish. This is her first start in over a month, but she was still in good form when she paced a qualifying mile in 1:55.4 and never broke stride. G Ts Skyla has already taken home the ABSS Marquis, Shirley McClellan Breeders’ Stake and the Gord & Illa Rumpel Memorial Stake. The only significant three-year-old filly stake in Alberta she did not win was the ABSS Diamond because she was scratched.

The hottest three-year-old in Alberta this year is Virtual Horizon (Vertical Horizon), and he will put his perfect 11 for 11 year on the line in the first elimination for the ABSS Plainsmen. The sophomore pacer is making his first start at Century Mile, and it will be his first time racing on a mile oval.

Sandwiched in between all the stake action, the fastest horse in western Canada, Shark Week (Vertical Horizon), will look to extend his winning streak to 10 in the Preferred. He has yet to go sub 1:50 since his record-breaking effort in June when he paced 1:49.2. Shark Week was assigned the outside post position, but that has never been an obstacle for him.

The action at Century Mile begins on Saturday (Sep. 23) at 1:15 p.m. MDT. There are another 11 races slated for Friday (Sep. 22) at 6:15 p.m. MDT.

For complete Friday race entries, click here.

For complete Saturday race entries, click here.

by Trey Colbeck, for Harnesslink