Woodbine: Laugh Track catches Essence Hit Man to win Vigil Stakes

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Laugh Track ($4.90) caught 7-10 favorite Essence Hit Man in the final strides to land his first stakes win Sunday at Woodbine in the Grade 3, $156,000 Vigil.

Essence Hit Man, Canada’s champion sprinter in each of the past two years, set a slow pace with an opening quarter-mile in 23.17 seconds and got the half in 45.02 in the seven-furlong event. Laugh Track closed the gap from second exiting the turn and then wore down Essence Hit Man in the final sixteenth to prevail by a half-length in 1:21.85. Longshots Burnum and City Wolf completed the order of finish.

The victory completed a sweep of Woodbine’s weekend stakes for jockey Luis Contreras and trainer Mark Casse, who teamed up to win Saturday’s Grade 3 Hendrie with Delightful Mary.

“We got [Laugh Track] from Norm Casse at Churchill,” said assistant trainer David Adams. “We targeted this race all along with him, and we thought he had a good shot.”

Laugh Track collected $94,500 for the partnership of Gary Barber and WinStar Farm.