In similar first-over fashion to his top-level win last week, Nobettorplacetobe ($8.90) extended his winning streak to three in the nation’s capital with a 1:53.1 score in Sunday night’s (September 24) $6,950 winners-over pacing event at Rideau Carleton Raceway.
Guy Gagnon, Rideau’s leading trainer and driver this season by strike rate, floated the five-year-old Bettors Delight entire forward to rate off dueling leaders Stonebridge Beach (Stephane Pouliot) and Bali (Marie Claude Auger) on the first turn, and inched closer after 45-1 outsider Bali asserted himself at the pegs to control a :26.4 first quarter. Nobettorplacetobe never lacked for racing room, as outer flow in mid-division remained stagnant through and well past a :55.3 half-mile clocking. Gagnon angled Nobettorplacetobe first-over with three-eighths to go, and while he accelerated at once to turn up the pressure into the far turn, he didn’t exactly make easy work of the longshot leader.
Bali held his ground past three-quarters in 1:23.4 and expanded his lead back to a length just above the eighth pole, but Nobettorplacetobe countered with 70 yards to go, surging to the fore and drawing clear by 1-1/2 lengths. Skyway Boomer (Jacques Beaudoin) and Ufdragons Rocket (Stephane Brosseau) emerged belatedly to likewise engulf Bali and take second and third places.
Gagnon co-owns 22-time winner Nobettorplacetobe with Luis Latulippe and Bruno Blouin.
The driving win was Gagnon’s fourth on the card after teaming up with trainer Jaime Copley for a natural hat trick in races five, six, and seven. The pair prevailed with Lyons Meandragon ($8.10, 1:54.2), Wildcat Cam ($4.10, 1:53.4), and Fortunes Friend ($3.80, 1:59.1). Richard Simard equalled Gagnon with a driving grand slam on the 12-race card.
To view Sunday’s harness racing results, click the following link: Sunday Results – Rideau Carleton Raceway.