Duke Deo and Life Is Better headlined Leamington Raceway's Sunday afternoon card, winning a pair of Preferred 4 events.
After his stablemate Shouldaknownbetter sprinted to command from an assigned outside post during the opening quarter looking for a repeat victory in the track's $5,000 top trot, Duke Deo swept from third to first and dominated the field the rest of the way, drewing off by five lengths at the end. The winning time of 2:00.1 was a new lifetime mark for the four-year-old Trixton gelding, with Nick Steward catch-driving for trainer/owner Mike Hamlin. Sent off at odds of 6-1 after missing by just a head last week, Duke Deo returned $14.90 to win. Fox Valley Ontario and Jooner rounded out the top three finish order.
Life Is Better sprung from the gate and led the pacers all the way in the co-feature, winning in 1:57.4 by 3-1/2 lengths with Scott Wray in the bike for trainer Kenneth Mathieson, who co-owns with Henry Banakiewicz. Delivering on his 1-2 pari-mutuel promise, the seven-year-old homebred by Betterthancheddar earned his second straight victory at the Leamington half-mile oval and paid $3.10 to win. Big Mach N finished second and Its Eds Idea was third.
To view Sunday's harness racing results, click the following link: Sunday Results - Leamington Raceway.