Bali and Sr Beach Babe shared the spotlight on Sunday night (February 26) at Flamboro Downs, winning the co-featured $7,500 Preferred 3 events.
Driven by Robert Shepherd, Bali rallied three-wide at the third quarter mark in the male division to overtake the leading favourite, Redonkulous (Travis Cullen), and then held off fellow longshot late-closers Ciona Bromach (Scott Coulter) and Arrived Late (Bob McClure) in a three-across finish to win in 1:57. He paid $23.70 for the 10-1 upset.
After hitting the board in four of his six prior starts, the six-year-old gelded son of Dali picked up his first win of the year for trainer Shane Weber and owner/breeder Denise Auger of Trois-Rivieres, Que.
In the fillies and mares co-feature, Flamboro's leading driver Bob McClure sent Sr Beach Babe first-up from fourth at the midway mark on the popular pacesetter Mach Magic (Shepherd) and prevailed by two and three-quarter lengths in 1:55.2 -- the fastest winning mile on a half-mile track in Canada by an older pacing mare so far this year. Collective Wisdom (Phil Hudon) closed from the pocket to finish second ahead of Mach Magic.
The four-year-old daughter of Oaks Enforcer was claimed in each of her last three starts at Woodbine and now races from the Craig Gilmour stable for owner Steve Mihalic of Burlington, Ont. She has won half of her six races in 2017.
To view Sunday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Sunday Results - Flamboro Downs.