The front-running and heavily favoured Lutetium was the one to chase down in Buffalo Raceway’s $9,000 Open Trot on Friday night (Jan. 22) and Northern Bullet ($11.60) was more than up to the task.

Blazing some hot fractions of :28.4, :58.2 and 1:28.1 on a frosty night, it seemed like Lutetium was going to runaway and hide from the field of six.

But Northern Bullet, who was five lengths back in third with a quarter-mile to trot, took dead aim on the pacesetter. He easily gunned down the leg-weary Lutetium (Kevin Cummings) in the stretch to notch the one and a quarter length decision in 1:58.2. A final panel of :29.1 proved to be the winning shot for Northern Bullet.

Driver Ray Fisher Jr. knew Northern Bullet was in good shape after seeing the three-quarter split posted.

“He’s a sprinter down the stretch,” said Fisher Jr. “I told [trainer] JD Perrin yesterday that I knew this horse was going to win tonight.”

Lutetium settled for second-place while Leave Your Mark (Shawn McDonough) took the show spot.

Owned by Tessa Roland and trained by Perrin, the six-year-old gelded Northern Bullet (Muscle Mass-Flame Tamer) has now earned $5,580 in two starts this season and $148,405 lifetime.

Kevin Cummings finished the evening with three driving victories while Todd Cummings, Drew Monti and Truman Gale each doubled.

Trainer Bob Gruber III led the conditioners with two wins.

Racing is scheduled to resume on Saturday night at 6 p.m. with a 12-race card.

(Standardbred Canada with files from Buffalo Raceway)