Toronto, ON —The top harness racing performers in the 2016 Ontario Sires Stakes program converged at Mohawk Racetrack for Saturday's (Oct. 15) $2 million Super Final Night.
Two-Year-Old Colt Trot
Season leader Mass Production proved his divisional dominance with a blowout win in the evening's first Super Final for trainer/driver Rick Zeron. The first half-mile was full of action with multiple lead changes and misbehaving trotters, but once Mass Production made the front, there was no catching the Muscle Mass-All Time Favorite gelding as he took off to win by open lengths in a new stakes record clocking of 1:54.4.
Speedycrest (Jack Moiseyev) fired to the front first from post seven with Dream Massive (James MacDonald) and Reach The Peak (Sylvain Filion) driving three-wide into the first turn. Dream Massive then cleared eventual breaker Speedycrest by the :28 first quarter mark with Reach The Peak still parked from post nine. Meanwhile, Mass Production followed into the outer flow.
After Reach The Peak cleared to command down the backstretch, Mass Production swept by at the :57.3 half-mile mark. Lucys Man (Mike Saftic) pursued next in line and tucked into the expanding pocket after Reach The Peak broke stride. But Mass Production left his rivals behind to sort out the minor awards as he sped past three-quarters in 1:26.1 and trotted away down the stretch to win by 8-3/4 lengths.
Mass Production shaved one-fifth of a second off the all-time OSS record for two-year-old trotting colts and geldings, which was held by Harper Blue Chip.
Tycoon Seelster (Paul MacDonell) and Dream Massive rounded out the top three finish order.
A C$32,000 Canadian Yearling Sale acquisition, Mass Production was bred by Stan Klemencic and is owned by the Rick Zeron Stables, James Walker, Bruno Dipoce and Rene Allard. He has won five of his nine career starts while banking C$285,673.
Mass Production paid $3.10 to win.
Mass Production
Three-Year-Old Filly Pace
Fan favorite L A Delight ended her perfect Ontario Sires Stakes career with another Super Final title, digging in to fight off Bad As Leader for the 1:50.3 victory for driver Randy Waples and trainer Bob McIntosh.
L A Delight remained clear into the stretch, but Bad As Leader (Trevor Henry) was closing in quickly as the wire approached. However, L A Delight ultimately persevered by a head while Party In Rome finished two lengths back in third.Leaving from post four, L A Delight emerged between fillies to take the lead over insider Party In Rome (Jack Moiseyev) at the :26.2 first quarter mark with Mayhem Seelster (Sylvain Filion) parked and pressing. L A Delight released Mayhem Seelster to the lead and then quickly retook down the backstretch, reaching the half in :54.2 and then three-quarters in 1:23 while Bourbon Seelster (Mike Saftic) stalled first-over.
Sent postward as the overwhelming 1-9 favorite, L A Delight paid $2.20 to win.
The homebred Bettors Delight-West Of L A filly is owned by the Robert McIntosh Stables Inc., C S X Stables and Al McIntosh Holdings Inc.
She has won all 10 of her OSS starts over the last two seasons and is now 20-for-27 lifetime with earnings over $1.35 million.
L A Delight
Two-Year-Old Filly Trot
With divisional leader and 1-9 favorite On A Sunny Day breaking stride in the first turn, the door was left wide open for a longshot winner in the next Super Final. Winter Sweet Frost overcame her outside post and pulled off the 10-1 upset with Doug McNair working out the winning trip aboard the Paul Reid trainee.
Stuck In My Spanks (David Miller) came away with a two-length lead by the :28 first quarter mark after insider On A Sunny Day (Sylvain Filion) made a miscue that sent her from first to last. Meanwhile, McNair was able to secure what turned out to be a pocket trip after leaving from post nine with Winter Sweet Frost.
Stuck In My Spanks continued to lead the field to the half in :56.4 before McNair made his move with Winter Sweet Frost on approach to the 1:26.1 third quarter mark and drew away by three lengths into the stretch. Gravitator (Rick Zeron) came tearing off cover down the lane, but Winter Sweet Frost maintained a 1-1/2 length advantage to the wire over that rival while her stablemate, Holiday Promise (Chris Christoforou), finished third.
The winning time of 1:55.4 was a new lifetime mark for the homebred Kadabra-American Frost filly, who is owned by Robert Key.
A two-time Gold winner earlier this summer, she now has three wins from nine career starts and earnings over $300,000. Winter Sweet Frost paid $22.70 for a $2 win ticket.
Two-Year-Old Filly Pace
After a disappointing loss with 2-year-old filly trotter On A Sunny Day, Sylvain Filion came back and engineered a 9-1 upset victory in the next Super Final for filly pacers with Yaris Bayama.
Fade (Jonathan Drury) took the lead from post six over his Casie Coleman stablemate Windy Sport (David Miller) while Doug McNair had Action Majesty firing out from post 10 into the mix. Action Majesty cleared before the first quarter mark, timed in a quick :26.1.
Meanwhile, post eight starter Bid Writer (James MacDonald) was left parked out before finding a spot along the pylons mid-pack ahead of Yaris Bayama. As Bid Writer dropped in, Filion tipped Yaris Bayama out.
Action Majesty continued to lead the field past the half in :55.3 while Yaris Bayama flushed out cover in the form of Windy Sport, who turned up the heat on the leader to three-quarters in 1:24.2. Windy Sport gained the upper hand down the stretch before Yaris Bayama took over with Fade coming through between horses and the 2-1 divisional leader, Aint Three Ok (Trevor Henry), closing late on the far outside. However, Yaris Bayama came out on top, prevailing by three-quarters of a length in 1:53 flat. Fade was the runner-up over Aint Three Ok and Windy Sport.
Yaris Bayama returned $20.40 to her backers at the betting windows.
Stephane Larocque trains the homebred Sportswriter-Lucky Josie filly, who started her career in the Grassroots program and has now won half of her 10 career starts while banking $231,820 in purses. She is owned by Bayama Farms Inc.
Yaris Bayama
Three-Year-Old Colt Trot
Sylvain Filion managed another mild upset with 7-1 shot Warrawee Roo, who helped make amends for his stablemate On A Sunny Day's miscue earlier in the night. This time, the connections of trainer Luc Blais and owner Determination benefitted from a break in stride made by the favorite.
Will Take Charge (Paul MacDonell) took charge firing off the gate from post six over Zagster (Trevor Henry), but his lead was short-lived as post eight starter Bee In Charge (Chris Christoforou) continued his march to the top through a :27.1 opening quarter. From there, divisional leader and 9-5 favorite Muscle Hustle (Randy Waples) came rushing up from an early four-hole to take over command on the way to the :57 half-mile mark.
Dia Monde (Doug McNair) then took his shot and gained a slight advantage while Muscle Hustle tried to fight back before breaking stride at the 1:24.4 third quarter mark. Dia Monde inherited the lead with Warrawee Roo rallying off his cover down the middle of the track to score in 1:53.4 by one length. Will Take Charge finished second over Dia Monde, with Bee In Charge closing inside fourth.
Warrawee Roo, who entered the Super Final off a qualifying mile after making breaks in his last two starts, paid $17.50 to win.
Bred by Warrawee Farm of Rockwood, Ont., the bay colt was purchased for $44,000 from the Canadian Yearling Sale. After going winless in four starts as a freshman, the son of Majestic Son has earned five wins from 14 races this year with his Super Final winnings doubling his bankroll.
Warrawee Roo
Three-Year-Old Filly Trot
Filion struck again for Blais and Determination as he mapped out a perfect pocket trip in rein to Emoticon Hanover to defeat defending champion and 1-5 favorite Caprice Hill in the 3-year-old filly trot.
Filion left from mid-field with Emoticon Hanover to lead through a :27.3 first quarter before Caprice Hill (Tim Tetrick) worked past her out of an early two-hole. Caprice Hill carved out middle splits of :55.4 and 1:24.2, but couldn't hold off Emoticon Hanover when she emerged from the pocket down the stretch. Emoticon Hanover defeated Caprice Hill by one length in a career-best clocking of 1:53.1, with Wanaka (Trevor Henry) closing for third.
Emoticon Hanover was the 2015 Super Final runner-up and the divisional point leader this year despite Caprice Hill being undefeated in three starts in the program. Emoticon Hanover also won three Gold legs, but also had two runner-up finishes to give her the edge in the standings.
Lifetime, the Kadabra-Emmylou Who filly, who was a $165,000 purchase at the Harrisburg Sale as a yearling, has won 11 of her 23 starts while earning $700,000. She was bred by Ontario's Linda Wellwood, Tammy Aspden, Anne Shunock and Diane Ingham of Mount Pleasant.
Sent postward at odds of 5-1, Emoticon Hanover paid $12.30 to win.
Emoticon Hanover
Two-Year-Old Colt Pace
Colin Johnson trainee Arsenal Seelster pulled off the biggest surprise of the night, prevailing at odds of 46-1 at the hands of Jonathan Drury.
Southwind General (Jody Jamieson) powered out from post eight outside of Big Bad Bill (Trevor Henry) and cleared to command past the :26.1 first quarter. Meanwhile, Arsenal Seelster was next-to-last in the early going before following into the outer flow fourth-over.
Yogi Bayama (Yves Filion) went first-up from mid-pack at the :55.4 half-mile post with divisional leader and 4-5 favourite Streakavana (Sylvain Filion) following his cover. He applied pressure to Southwind General through three-quarters in 1:24.3 before taking over into the stretch. Machin A Trick (James MacDonald) closed well, but Arsenal Seelster rallied off his back down the lane to score in 1:53 flat by 1-3/4 lengths. Yogi Bayama finished second and Machin A Trick was third.
The lightly raced colt had just three starts in the Gold Series in his debut season, with his best result a pair of fifth-place finishes. He returned a whopping $95.30 for a $2 win ticket.
The victory was the third in seven career starts for Arsenal Seelster and boosted his bankroll to C$151,180.
The Seelster Farms-bred colt by Artistic Fella out of Alias Seelster was purchased for $35,000 from the Forest City Yearling Sale by Johnson and partners Thomas Kyron, Brian Paquet and Ecurie Jgv Enrg.
Arsenal Seelster
Three-Year-Old Colt Pace
Betting Line closed out Super Final Night by overcoming his post 10 start and extending his win streak to 14 in rein to David Miller for trainer Casie Coleman.
Gerries Sport (Sylvain Filion) left from post six with Sintra (Jody Jamieson) firing out from post eight and taking over by the quarter pole, which was reached in :26.2. Voracity (Tim Tetrick) followed in third while Betting Line got away fourth. Sintra led the field to the half in :55, with Betting Line moving underway first-over. The 1-5 favorite was still five lengths off the lead though by the 1:22 third quarter mark. Sintra turned for home while Gerries Sport pursued from the pocket down the lane. However, Betting Line kicked into high-gear in deep stretch and surged past those rivals to win by three-quarters of a length in 1:49.3. Gerries Sport edged out Sintra for the runner-up honors.
Division leader Betting Line's went four-for-four during the regular OSS season, but has also taken on Grand Circuit foes scoring victories in the Somebeachsomewhere Stakes, North America Cup, Milstein Memorial, Battle of the Brandywine, Simcoe Stakes, and most recently, the Little Brown Jug. He boasts a 14-for-15 sophomore record and is the leading money-earner in Canada this year with a bankroll of nearly C$1.7 million.
Bred by the New Jersey-based Fair Winds Farm Inc., the Bettors Delight-Heathers Western colt was a $60,000 yearling purchase from the Harrisburg Sale and he has amassed more than $2.2 million lifetime.
Coleman shares ownership of Betting Line as part of West Wins Stable with Ross Warriner, along with their partners Christine Calhoun and Mac Nichol.
Betting Line paid $2.40 to win.
Betting Line
State Treasurer Retirement Pace
Canada's reigning Horse of the Year State Treasurer opened the stakes-filled card by leading the post parade for this week's C$34,000 Preferred Pace. The Dr. Ian Moore trainee was also honored in a blanket presentation, marking his official retirement, which was announced this week. He will stand stud at Seelster Farms starting with the 2017 breeding season.
In the State Treasurer Retirement Pace, driver Sylvain Filion launched Evenin Of Pleasure from the pocket in the final eighth of the mile to prevail in 1:49.3 over even-money favorite Ellis Park.
The 8-5 second choice established the early lead from post five before last week's winner, Ellis Park (Randy Waples), looped to the lead after a :26.3 first quarter and reached the half-mile in :54.2 and then three-quarters in 1:22.3. However, Evenin Of Pleasure overpowered the front-runner in the stretch with a :26.4 final frame, with Nickle Bag (Trevor Henry) advancing first-over to finish third.
by Standardbred Canada
