Emoticon Legacy collected his second major victory so far in his sophomore campaign as he was a 1:51 4/5 winner of the Grade 2 $320,000 Dr. Harry M. Zweig Memorial for 3-year-old male trotters on Thursday night at Vernon Downs.
The Goodtimes champion got away fifth for driver Louis Roy and watched Meshuggah (Scott Zeron) cut the quarter in 26 3/5 and then gave way to Onajetplane (Andy McCarthy) beyond that station. Roy then fired Emoticon Legacy to the outside, and he made his way around Onajetplane after the 55 1/5 half-mile marker went on the board.
Maryland (Dexter Dunn), who had taken back to sixth from post two at the start, made steady gains first-over on the final bend and to the 1:24 1/5 three-quarters, but that 29 second third quarter gave Emoticon Legacy plenty left for the sprint to the wire, and he used a 27 3/5 last panel to defeat a game Maryland by a length. Meshuggah was third, followed by Onajetplane and Hidalgo (Yannick Gingras).
► Sign up for our FREE DRF Harness Digest Newsletter
A Walner homebred colt for Serge Godin's Determination stable, Emoticon Legacy is trained by Luc Blais. Emoticon Legacy has seven wins from ten lifetime tries, has now earned $416,461 and paid $3.30 to win as the favorite.