Modern steals Swift Thoroughbreds Inaugural with soft early fractions

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Modern showed why he was voted the champion sprinter in British Columbia last year with a relatively easy front-running win in the $50,000 Swift Thoroughbreds Inaugural at Hastings on Sunday. Modern was sent off as the favorite in the six-furlong sprint for 3-year-olds and up and paid $4.70.

Breaking sharply with Richard Hamel riding, Modern got away with a soft opening quarter-mile split of 23.12 seconds. Hollywood Angel made a run at Modern on the stretch turn but never really threatened the winner. The final margin was 1 1/4 lengths. Shooting Jacket rallied to finish third.

“I was pretty confident he was going to win when I saw the 23-second split,” said trainer Dino Condilenios.

Modern is owned by Swift Thoroughbreds Inc., which donated half of the purse.

The final time over a fast track was 1:10.91.

Avadiva paid $24.60 for her front-running win over Quatre Cat in the $50,000 Brighouse Belles.

With Sklyer White Shield aboard, Avadiva broke sharply and under pressure from Sabrina set honest fractions of 23.06 and 46.28 in the six-furlong race for fillies and mares. After disposing of Sabrina at the top of the stretch Avadiva was able to hold off the strong late move from Quatre Cat to win by a half-length.

Majestic Presence rallied to finish third.

Trained by Robbie Anderson, Avadiva was making just her ninth career start. The 5-year-old Avadiva was coming off a runner-up finish in a second-level allowance race at Turf Paradise on March 26.

“She’s lightly raced because she’s had one problem or another,” said trainer Robbie Anderson. “We ran her in the Brighouse because she’s been running at Turf Paradise and we thought she might have a fitness edge.”

The final time was 1:11.43.