With Tim Tetrick in the sulky, Anndrovette fired to command from post six and established an early three length lead during a speedy :25.4 first quarter. The five-year-old Riverboat King-Easy Miss mare carved out middle fractions of :54 and 1:21 while Drop The Ball (Doug McNair), who set a track record in her elimination, advanced first up from fourth flushing Rocklamation (Brian Sears) from the pocket around the final turn.
Rocklamation confronted the leading lady, but Anndrovette dug in down the lane to prevail by half a length. She destroyed the track and Canadian record and lowered Southwind Tempo's world record for aged pacing mares on a mile track by one-fifth of a second. Drop The Ball edged out Rocklamation for runner-up honours. Put On A Show (Jody Jamieson), the favoured elimination winner, finished one and a quarter lengths behind in fourth.
"She raced really strong," said Tetrick in the winner's circle. "I had intentions of rolling her down the road and we set up some big fractions and beat Put On A Show and Drop The Ball. I knew they were right there and I knew it would be a race to the finish, but my mare fought tough. Three-quarters in [1]:21, she raced her heart out."
Anndrovette paid $28.40 for the upset win. Paul Fraley trains the millionaire mare for New Jersey owners Bamond Racing LLC of Brick and Joseph Davino of Clarksburg.
Three-year-old trotting filly Lovely Vacation and driver Randy Waples kicked off the stakes action on Saturday night with a 1:55 victory in the first of four Canadian Breeders Championships.
Circles (Luc Ouellette) fired off the gate from the outside post 10 in the $166,373 event and cleared to command ahead of post six starter Lovely Vacation around the first turn. Meanwhile, elimination winner Im On Cloud Nine (Jack Moiseyev) made a costly break in stride.
After the :28.1 first quarter mark, Lovely Vacation swept to command and carved out middle splits of :57.4 and 1:25.4 with the popular elimination winner Miss Paris (Rick Zeron) advancing first up from mid-pack and Circles making a break around the final turn.
Miss Paris applied pressure to the pacesetter into the stretch, but levelled off leaving Lovely Vacation to contend with the quick-closing Frisky Strike (Scott Zeron). Lovely Vacation managed to hold off the pylon-skimming filly to win by half a length. Miss Paris finished third.
"She's a really nice filly, but she was in against a really nice bunch of fillies too," commented Waples after the win. "She's showed at different times she can beat them and it was all basically going to come to to the trip. She's got great gate speed and she can get you to a place you want to be. She's a little bit tough to place sometimes because if she gets fighting with you she'll make a a break so she's a litle bit dicey that way, but after she gets settled and is where she wants she's beautiful to drive. I knew there was a lot of power coming behind me, but the fractions were reasonable and she seems to be relaxed when she's up front."
Lovely Vacation paid $32.50 to win as the 15-1 fourth choice. Mark Steacy trains the Majestic Son-Short Vacation miss for owners Shawn Steacy of Lansdowne, Ont., David McDonald of Cornwall, Ont., Joe Loring of Canmore, Alta., and Dr. Malcolm G. Man Son Hing of Campbell River, B.C.
Knows Nothing delivered as the even-money favourite in the $159,058 three-year-old trotting colt division in 1:54.3 for driver Jody Jamieson and trainer Jeff Gillis prior to their big win in the Maple Leaf Trot.
Leaving from the nine-hole, Reckon Im Ready (Mike Vanderkemp) marched to the top spot while outsider Jetcrest (Anthony MacDonald) and elimination winner Prestidigitator (Sylvain Filion) broke stride early on. Reckon Im Ready led the way to the first quarter mark in :27.2, but then gave way to Decret Justiciale (Mario Baillargeon), who brushed up from fourth down the backstretch.
The new leader hit the half in :56.4 and proceeded to three-quarters in 1:25.4 with Cold Certified (Jason Brewer) flushed first up by Il Mago (Randy Waples) while third over Knows Nothing began to rally three-wide.
Down the stretch, Knows Nothing came flying home on the outside to prevail by a length over Cold Certified and Decret Justiciale.
"I thought I had the best horse when the sheet came out," commented Jamieson after the victory. "Obviously, Prestidigitator has been awesome, he just hasn't faced Knows Nothing yet and hopefully he stays good."
Knows Nothing, who received a bye to the final, paid $4 to win for the sixth time in seven career starts. The near perfect Kadabra-Savvy Yankee colt is now Hambletonian-bound for Ontario owners Al Libfeld of Pickering, Marvin Katz of Toronto, Mac Nichol of Burlington and the J Gillis G Stay partnership of Hillsburgh.
"It's going to be a lot of fun for an Ontario-sired horse to go down there and mix it up with the big boys," added Jamieson.