Off the 6-5 favourite, Shark Week delivered a coast-to-coast performance in taking the $45,100 Alberta Marksman Final on Sunday (June 27) at Century Downs.
Driver Michael Hennessy cleared command with Shark Week while Dragon Energy landed in the pocket from the second tier to a :27.2 first quarter. They remained one-two through a :57.1 half and 1:25.1 three-quarters before Shark Week scooted three lengths clear off the final turn. Dragon Energy gave futile chase to the 3-year-old Vertical Horizon colt through the stretch, settling for second in the 1:53.1 mile by 2 1/2 lengths. Codename Cigar Box finished third another two lengths back.
Co-owned by trainer Rod Hennessy with Lorne Duffield, Shark Week won his fifth race from eight starts, earning $62,680. He paid $4.30 to win.
Like many Standardbred horsepeople in western Canada, trainer and driver Rod Hennessy has weathered a particularly rough five months since harness racing in Alberta was put on hold. However, with optimistic developments on the front of racing returning to the prairie province albeit, without on-track spectators and still under strict protocols there s reason for Hennessy to be optimistic about returning to action in the coming weeks. Century Downs has been a very good place for me, Hennessy, who began racing horses in his native Alberta when he was 14 and has competed on the Alberta-Saskatchewan circuit for his entire life since, said in a recent
Diane Hennessy of Falun, Alta., is the photographer behind the lens of this cheeky photo of four Standardbred yearlings hanging out in the paddock at Rod Hennessy Stables. The photo is featured as the March shot in Standardbred Canada’s Heart of Harness Racing calendar.
Hennessy captured this photo last spring when her brother and sister-in-law were visiting the farm to check out the new foals. “Kevin and Shawna were out visiting the farm, just to get a look at our new babies last spring. Meanwhile, in another paddock, the ever-inquisitive yearlings lined up to say hi and I just happened to take a series of photos.
You know the feeling when you get into a scorching car with the windows closed on one of Edmonton’s rare sweltering afternoons? That’s Alberta harness trainer Chris Lancaster. Hot. Red-hot. Blistering hot.
On one big, long roll since the second week of the current harness meet at Century Mile, Lancaster has won with 10 of his last 12 starters.
But wait, there’s more.
The two horses the harness trainer sent out that didn’t win lost to stablemates: Probert was upset by barn mate Lady Neigh Neigh in last Sunday’s (Dec. 6) feature, and at the end of last month, Custards Crown finished second to Probert in the $88,320 Don Byrne Memorial.