LONDON, Ontario . . . State Treasurer became the first three peat winner of the signature race at The Raceway at Western Fair District, the $150,000 Molson Pace, and became the harness racing sport’s latest millionaire, in front of a huge crowd tonight at the London half-mile oval.
Favourite All Bets Off, fresh off his Confederation Cup victory, was the most fleet of foot early to led the talented field by the :26.2 opening marker for Matt Kakaley. Just past that point Chris Christoforou pulled the right line on reigning champ State Treasurer and he was at the leader’s wheel at the :55.3 half and was neck and neck with All Bets Off at the three quarters in 1:23.1.
Down the lane it became a three horse battle with Evenin Of Pleasure and Sylvain Filion added to the mix but at the wire reached in 1:51 it was State Treasurer with the narrow victory over All Bets Off and Evenin Of Pleasure. PH Supercam and Lets Drink On It collected the final two cheques.
The winner’s share of the purse puts State Treasurer over the one million dollar mark in life earnings for owners Sally MacDonald of PEI and Paul MacDonald of Toronto, Ontario. Dr. Ian Moore trains the six-year-old son of Real Desire who was a mere $6,500 purchase as a yearling.
“It’s fantastic, I was lucky enough to sit behind him for two of those (Molson Pace victories),” said Christoforou. “He just proved how great a horse he is. The trip he went, first up like that, to go to war with that horse (All Best Off), it was unbelievable, it was spectacular.”
With respect to the trip tonight, Christoforou, Canada’s reigning driver of the year, noted:
“My biggest concern was I didn’t want to get pinned in with him, because he can be a real handful at times. At the Meadowlands he was almost in an accident when he tried to run over horses in front of him. If he gets boxed in he doesn’t like it so I just wanted to make sure I had some clearance at some point around that first turn and it worked out. After that I let him do the rest.
“I know him, you have to drive him a certain way, he doesn’t like to be argued with. He likes to do things his own way but you can reason with him a little bit if you take a little bit of a hold on him but not too much. It’s all in small measures. You never see me make a big, huge move with him because it usually does not work out well.”
Not only did the race work out well for State Treasurer, the Molson Pace winner now for three straight years, but also for The Raceway which now takes a hiatus from racing until October. It was an overall record handle for Molson Pace night, $610,000, up from $404,000 last year. The Pace race itself produced a record single-race handle of $196,000 and the live on-site handle was $125,000, up from $100,000 last year.
Undercard
The Molson Pace undercard was absolutely jam packed with very competitive stakes events with four City Of London Finals and three $70,000 Ontario Sires Stakes Gold divisions for three-year-old pacing colts.
City Of London – Trotting Mares
The evening kicked off with the $41,000 City Of London final for mare trotters. Favourite Magic Dancing grabbed the early lead for the track’s leading driver Alfie Carroll and that filly hit the opening quarter in :28. Brinkers Dream came up to challenge at that point but she was repelled by the leader who hit the half in :57.2.
Magic Dancing continued on top by the three-quarters in 1:27.4 and could not be caught down the lane to win in 1:59.4. Brinkers Dream was second followed by Tyrone Zoey. It was the eighth win in nine starts this year for the three-year-old daughter of Kadabra trained by Vic Puddy for owner Percy Elkins of Milton, Ontario.
City Of London – Pacing Males
The $44,400 COL Final for the male pacers saw heavy favourite Naturescape hit the opening quarter in :28 for Billy Davis Jr. He went on by the half in a sedate :58.2 and sped up to reach the third quarter in 1:26.1. No one could touch him down the stretch as he opened up to win by open lengths in 1:54.3. Alexas Prayer and St Lads Flirt collected the next two cheques.
Gregg McNair trains the winner, a sophomore son of Art Colony owned by Wayne MacRae of Nova Scotia and Bloomingwood Farms of Harriston, Ontario. Tonight’s effort was his second victory in four tries in 2015 and a new lifetime best.
City Of London – Trotting Males
Rory made full use of leaving from the rail, getting the early advantage for Paul MacKenzie in the $40,400 COL finale for male trotters. They trotted past the :29.3 first quarter but were passed before the half by Ja El Storm who was comfortably on top by that marker in :59.4 and hit the three-quarters in 1:29.2 with favourite Muscle Mack and Ryan Holliday coming to call.
Those two three-year-olds pulled away from the rest of the field and Muscle Mack trotted away to win in 1:58.3. Ja El Storm had to settle for second while Chuck In Charge was third. The winner, a gelding by Muscle Mass, is owned by Ronald Corbett of St. Jacobs, Ontario, and trained by David Holliday. It was Muscle Mack’s fifth win in six starts this year.
City Of London – Pacing Mares
The $44,600 COL final for the distaff pacers provided the closest finish. Bad Mood took over the lead by the :28.1 first marker but she was covered up by Pinky Tuscadero well before the :57.4 half. That sophomore hit the three-quarters in 1:27 for Bruce Richardson and was caught at the wire by longshot Bad Mood in a very close 1:57.2. Pinky Tuscardero had to be content with second and Southwind Geisha was third.
Bad Mood is owned by breeders Jeff and Lori Thomson of Chesley, Ontario and Jeff handles the training. A three-year-old daughter of Badlands Hanover, the filly now has two wins and two seconds in four starts this year and paid $61.30 to win.
Ontario Sires Stakes
Robert Hill flew off the wings from post seven to grab early control in the first division but he was passed before the :27.4 opening quarter by Go Daddy Go and John Campbell. A striking chestnut colt, Go Daddy Go hit the half in :57.2 and the three-quarters in 1:25.4. Sportsmanship attempted to challenge but went offstride before the final turn allowing Go Daddy Go open road and he was a down the road winner in 1:53.1. Moonwriter took second with Dialamara third.
It was the first start this year for the Ponder colt, a winner of $398,000 last year, owned by trainer/breeder Bob McIntosh along with Dave Boyle of Bowmanville, Ontario, and new partner Diamond Creek Farm of Pennsylvania which stands his sire, a former champion for McIntosh.
In the second division it was Windsong Leo taking over the lead by the :28 opening panel. He hit the half in :58 for Jody Jamieson. The speed picked up through the 1:26.3 third quarter and Windsong Leo was still on top by the 1:54.1 finish. Bob Ben And John took second while Win One Soon was third.
It was the seventh straight win for the Jeremes Jet colt trained by Daniel O’Brian for Everette Hanson of New Brunswick. The colt was unraced last year at two.
In the third and final split Sportskeeper and Chris Christoforou led their rivals by the first quarter in :27.2. They continued on top by the :57 half and 1:24.4 three-quarters. In the drive to the wire Physicallyinclined was closing hard on the leader but Sportskeeper managed to hold him off in the very tight 1:53 finish. J Js Delivery was third.
The time represented a new track record for three-year-old pacing geldings. A homebred son of Sportswriter for trainer Casie Coleman and longtime partner Merlin Howse of Langton, Ontario, Sportskeeper was notching his first win in two attempts this year.
Greg Blanchard
