ED­MON­TON, Al­ber­ta– Ja­maican Dane Nel­son re­mained out front in the jock­eys cham­pi­onship, af­ter rid­ing a brace on Fri­day’s ten-race card at Cen­tu­ry Mile.

The 38-year-old pro­duced a nar­row score with favourite Thrill of the Nite in race six over six fur­longs be­fore win­ning race ten by 2-1/2 lengths with a 2-1 chance Pump the Brakes, in an­oth­er six-fur­long con­test.

Nel­son, sec­ond last year with 60 wins be­hind cham­pi­on En­rique Gon­za­lez, has 37 wins for the new cam­paign, five clear of Jose Asen­cio with Gon­za­lez third on 31 along­side Alexan­der Mar­ti.

Af­ter com­ing up short in race two with 4-1 bet Car­son’s Lega­cy, in race four with 3-1 choice Slaats and in race five with favourite It­sall­go­od­man, Nel­son fi­nal­ly tast­ed suc­cess when he paired with four-year-old chest­nut fil­ly Thrill of the Nite, to beat the three-year-old and up­ward fil­lies and mares by a neck.

The pair were forced to du­el from the break with 2-1 bet Smilin Evie and man­aged to out­last their ri­val in a long stretch dri­ve.

Nel­son’s sec­ond win came when he paired with the four-year-old bay geld­ing Pump the Brakes to col­lar the three-year-olds and up­ward.

Favourite Boss Man Can, rid­den by Bar­ba­di­an N’Ri­co Prescod, set the ear­ly pace un­der pres­sure from the Pump the Brakes, be­fore Nel­son got the geld­ing to the front ap­proach­ing the quar­ter pole, to dom­i­nate the fi­nal fur­longs.

Prescod was al­so in win­ners’ row, pi­lot­ing favourite Hard To Come Home to vic­to­ry on the head bob, in race two over six fur­longs for the three-year-olds and up­ward.

CMC