Gold Cup & Saucer champion Blissfull Breeze extended his current win streak to four and notched his 50th career win in the featured $15,000 Preferred 2 Pace at Georgian Downs during Wednesday night’s harness racing program, which also saw driver Scott Zeron return to the winner’s circle five times while dominating the opening round of the Hump Day Claiming Series.
Fresh off a victory in the Preferred Pace at Western Fair Raceway, the Travis Bowman-driven Blissfull Breeze made his move after the :26.4 opening quarter and advanced first over from fourth through middle splits of :55.4 and 1:24. Blissfull Breeze collared pacesetter Web Cam (Simon Allard) at the top of the stretch and cruised to victory in 1:52.3, equalling his season’s mark set in Gold Cup & Saucer Trial #3 at Charlottetown Driving Park in mid-August. Windsun Callum (Aaron Byron), the longest shot on the board at odds of 64-1, finished second off a pocket-trip while last week’s winner and this week's favourite, Secretsothernephew (Sylvain Filion), came in third.
Blissfull Breeze paid $7.80 to win as the second choice. Dean Nixon trains the eight-year-old son of Blissfull Hall-Melbourne Breeze, a winner of 13 races in 32 seasonal starts and $122,216, for owner Leo Racicot of Harrow, Ont. Blissfull Breeze's 50th career win boosted his overall earnings to $334,270.
Among Zeron’s five wins Wednesday night were three of the four $8,000 first leg divisions of the Hump Day Claiming Series for non-winners of $30,000 lifetime racing for a claiming price of $10,000. Zeron reined home series winners Sweater Vest in 1:56 for trainer Clint Treen; the maiden-breaking Keyed Entry in 1:54.1 for Stephen Surette; and Battle Call in a career-best 1:54.2 for trainer Joe Agostino (a three-time winner on the card). The other series winner was Blade Runner and Sylvain Filion in 1:55.3 for trainer Richard Moreau.
Zeron, who has made 500 trips to the winner's circle so far this year, also scored victories with the Stephen Charlton-trained Hustlindlux and another Agostino pupil, Incognito.
To view Wednesday’s harness racing results, click on the following link: Wednesday Results – Georgian Downs.