Champion Barbadian jockey Rico Walcott staved off a late challenge from outsider Star Czar to win the feature  $56 000 Western Canada Handicap aboard hot favourite Shimshine at Northlands Park in Edmonton on Saturday.

The six-furlong contest in Race 3 seemed all but over when Walcott steered Shimshine to a four-length lead at the top of the stretch.

However, Shimshine lost momentum mid-stretch and Star Czar, with Jamaican Dane Nelson in the irons, made a last ditch effort only to narrowly miss out by a head.

Shimshine was timed at one minute, 13.72 seconds.

“He likes to have something to run at and he started looking around in the stretch,” Walcott said.

“I heard the crowd roaring, so I just put my head down and rode him to the wire.”