The BC stallion COUNTERFORCE, Canada’s leading freshman sire of 2022, sired two sophomore stakes winners on June 10 at Hastings racecourse in Vancouver.
LUCKY FORCE, a bay gelding owned by Edwin Claggett and trained by Craig MacPherson, remained unbeaten in his career with a hard-fought score in the R S McLeod Stakes in the slop at 6 1/2 furlongs. Lucky Force, bred by Dustin Bud Downing in BC, was away well, tracked a slow tempo (23.18, 46.81) and outsprinted everyone to the wire in an impressive time of 1:16.93 under Ridge Balgobin. The Tod Mountain Thoroughbreds and James Redekop’s LEGACY SQUARE was a lot farther back than usual behind a very slow pace and couldn’t make up the needed ground and finished second. The Tod Mountain Thoroughbreds and James Redekop’s ROCKCLIFFE secured the lead early and stayed on gamely to be a close third. The winning Beyer Figure was 67 according to Daily Racing Form.
Lucky Force was a $3,163 (US) yearling purchase from the 2021 BC CTHS yearling sale. His dam is Check Point, by Posse.
Also on Saturday, AIR FORCE, a three-year-old filly by Counterforce, won the $48,000 River Rock Casino Stakes at 6 1/2 furlongs. Owned by Dennis Dale, Morris Peter and Ed Welsh, the favoured filly did not disappoint her backers as she stay strong on the head end and refused to give in and earned a hard-fought victory in 1:17.03 under Antonio Reyes for trainer Keith Pedersen. The Canmor Farm’s ABOVE AVERAGE removed the blinkers for today’s race and it proved to be a great move as she relaxed off of the pace and closed bravely through the lane and just missed under Kerron Khelawan for trainer Mark Cloutier. The WYN Racing Stables KEY TO SUCCESS made an impressive debut at Hastings, racing three wide through most of the journey and checked in a close third, only beaten by a little more than a than length under Kimal Santo.
The winning Beyer Figure was 66.
Air Force was bred by Paul Caravetta and she was a $12,655 (US) BC yearling purchase. Her dam is Everythings a Blur by Joey Franco.
-with files from Horseracing BC
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