Twilight Bonfire overcame a second tier start to upset favourite Sunshine Beach on Sunday evening in the $35,000 elimination for Dover Downs' signature race, the Progress Pace for three-year-old colts and geldings.
Vegas Vacation was scratched from the elimination leaving eight starters in the field -- all of which will advance to next week's rich final.
Ronny Bugatti (Jason Bartlett) established the lead off the gate and carved out fractions of :27.1, :56.1 and 1:24. Meanwhile, Sunshine Beach (John Campbell) moved first up from fourth with Twilight Bonfire and Tim Tetrick picking up the cover. The 1-5 favourite surged by Ronny Bugatti around the final turn and drew clear, but Twilight Bonfire chased him home and got up in the final stride to win by a head in 1:51.2.
Sunshine Beach settled for second with Dedis Dragon (Ron Pierce) coming on for third. Finishing fourth through eighth were Wake Up Peter (Scott Zeron), Emeritus Maximus (Simon Allard), Clint Westwood (Corey Callahan), Good Day Mate (Matt Kakaley) and Ronny Bugatti.
Twilight Bonfire paid $43.20 for the 20-1 upset. Despite earning just his third win on the year, the son of The Panderosa has banked close to $600,000 in purses thanks in part to top-three finishes in the North America Cup, Battle of the Brandywine, Pennsylvania Sires Stakes Championship and Messenger Stakes.
"I really like this little guy," said Tetrick in a post-race interview. "He's not the best, but he's real handy. If he trips out like that he can go with the best of them."
Paul Reid trains the colt for owner and breeder Robert Key of Leechburg, Pennsylvania.