Pender Harbour delivers stakes win for trainer De Paulo's 50th birthday

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Pender Harbour gave trainer Mike De Paulo his 50th career stakes win on his 50th birthday Sunday at Woodbine in the $125,000 Steady Growth.

Pender Harbour broke about three lengths behind the others in the 1 1/16-mile route for Ontario-sired stock. After trailing on the backstretch, he mounted a powerful five-wide rally on the far turn before wearing down Urban Forester en route to a length score under Luis Contreras. His final time of 1:42.39 was just 0.17 seconds off the Polytrack record.

“I missed the break,” Contreras said. “I was a little bit worried early, but I stayed just as quiet as I could and didn’t panic. He just took me along. When I made my move at the three-eighths, I just wanted to be clear on the outside because he has a long stride.”

Pender Harbour ($5.30) earned $75,000 for owners Denny Andrews, Sandra Lazaruk, and Bob and Roberta Giffin.

Ultimate Destiny, last year’s Steady Growth winner, ran evenly to finish third as the 3-2 favorite in the eight-horse field.