Bre X triumphs again

Bre X, made it by the narrowest of margins, but the six-year-old son of Dal Reo Hop Sing, still dominates the Invite at Fraser Downs.

Despite starting from the outside seven post (handicapped there), Bre X came on with a rush to edge Red Star Justice by a nose last Saturday. Bre X, owned by Tante Stable and Kadence Stable, now has won six straight and the victory pushed his lifetime earnings to more than $300,000.

Trained by Wayne Isbister and driven by Bill Davis, Bre X trailed by 10 lengths at the quarter but used a 28.3 second last quarter to win in 1:54.1. That’s just four ticks off the track record, which was recently broken and tied, first by Bre X and then by Justice.

Nazko Promise was third, two lengths behind the winner.

DIGGING IT IX: And so it also continues for Digs Girl. The seven-year-old mare, owned by Laurie Davis and the Victoria Pacing Stable, won her ninth race in a row at Fraser Downs on Friday.

The daughter of Dignatarian has now made nine starts at the meet and won them all for driver/trainer Bill Davis. The latest was like the others, in a fillies and mares $4,000 claimer.

She now has 12 wins in 25 starts in 2003 (and still she has no seconds).

ANOTHER SIX PACK: Maxamillenium is a third horse at the Downs who is chalking up victories. The three-year-old gelded son of Dal Reo Hop Sing out of Precious Paloma, won his sixth in succession Sunday for owners Warrior Stable and Gordon Stickler and trainer Wayne Isbister.

Driven by Rod Therres, Maxamillenium covered the mile over a sloppy track in 1:57.3 while winning his ninth race in 10 lifetime starts, all this year.

BROWN GOOD, BUT BILL BEST: Tim Brown had a nice showing in the driver derby last weekend, winning seven times, including four on Friday. Well back were Jim Marino, Rod Therres, Larry Micallef, Rick White, Jim Wiggins and Brad Watt with two each. Oh yeah, Bill Davis had 10 to extend his meet lead.

Davis visited the winner’s enclosure five times as a trainer, two more than Wayne Isbister while Greg Beneen, Wiggins, Ray Gemmill, White and Dave Hudon had two apiece.

KIEM THE IRONMAN: Allan Kiem of Surrey was the fourth week’s winner of the Ironman Handicapping Challenge. Kiem won $250 for his handicapping expertise while Ron Geisthart of Delta was second and won $150 and Derek Mason of Langley third and took home $100.

Kiem had $86.20 in winnings after picking five winners and two seconds in the eight races. We had $76.90 and Mason was right behind with $76.30.

All patrons have to do is pick a horse in a designated race from eight different race tracks (such as Woodbine, Santa Anita, Mohawk, Bay Meadows) and receive dollars for a win, place or show finish. Each week there will be three winners.

Two weeks remain in the Challenge and entries must be in by 11:30 a.m. each contest day. Programs for the contest will be available at the Welcome Centre at noon Friday.

NOT MINE: Greener Pastures, the horse adoption arm of the B.C. Standardbred Association and the Downs, was all smiles last Friday. With a large crowd on hand – bolstered by Bro Jack of ROCK 101 and his enthusiastic entourage of lucky listeners – the total take on the 50/50 draw was $1,226. The draw winner, who is somewhat close to your TrackMarks man, continues to babble something about, “My win, not ours.”

NPI EYES HOY: Triple Crown champ No Pan Intended improved his bid for Horse of the Year honours Nov. 22 at the Meadowlands, winning one of two Breeders Crown eliminations for three-year-old pacing colts.

With David Miller at the helm, the son of Pacific Fella accelerated to the lead just after the half and was never challenged from there. The colt opened up ground in the stretch, pacing to an easy two-length win over Escape The Wind and Allamerican Native in 1:51.1.

“Either he is getting stronger or they are getting weaker, because he did it easy,” said David Miller after driving No Pan Intended to his 16th win of the season. “He was just coasting at the wire… I didn't think it would be a good idea to rush out of the gate and park someone. So I just got in the flow and hooked to the front.”

Owned by Peter Pan Stable of Pepper Pike, Ohio, No Pan Intended emerged as the supreme three-year-old pacing colt in the last half of this year’s stakes season. The Ivan Sugg trainee went on a 10-race winning spree from the end of July to mid-October, before losing the Windy City final. During the winning streak the colt won the Cane Pace, the Messenger final and the Little Brown Jug to capture pacing’s Triple Crown.

Pronger won the other glamour boy elimination with a superb front-end effort and now the final is set for Saturday.

SIR LUCK A STUD: Metro Pace champion Sir Luck has been retired to stud duty, according to a press release issued by the colt's owner Cliff Siegel.

The three-year-old son of Camluck will be heading to Casimir Farms in Hagar, Ont. to stand stud for a service fee of $7,500.

Despite a disappointing three-year-old season, Sir Luck was one of the continent’s top two-year-olds. Last year, the colt won 10 of 17 starts for purse earnings of more than $1.1 million. Lifetime, Sir Luck has made $1,225,804 making him the richest son Ontario sire Camluck has ever produced.

Sir Luck won the 2002 O’Brien Award as Canada’s two-year-old pacing colt of the year after winning the $1.1 million Metro Stakes. Bill Budd was the colt’s trainer.

DID YOU KNOW: That on Nov. 20, 1998, Walter Case Jr. bexame the first driver in harness racing history to reach 1,000 wins in a single year, reaching the mark by guiding Warren Moon to victory at Yonkers Raceway in New York.

DID YOU KNOW 2: That on Nov. 21, 1985, Armbro Dallas, driven by Ron Waples, set the world record for gelding pacers by winning in 1:52.3 at Garden State Park in Cherry Hill, N.J.

MAINMAN’S MOONSHOT: Ouch. Last week our pick Indians Win, to put it nicely, was not even close (ninth). This week we will try Groucho N, a 12-1 morning line pick, in the 12^th race Saturday.

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