Text Me and Mach Of Ballykeel captured their respective $130,000 Ontario Sires Stakes Gold Finals featured at Flamboro Downs during Sunday's
Confederation Cup card.
Despite being gapped off the gate at the start of the race, Ontario Sires Stakes divisional leader Text Me made up the ground to capture his second Gold final of the season for three-year-old trotting colts and geldings.
As the field lined up behind the gate, elimination winner Text Me and driver Randy Waples were gapped six lengths off the gate while Quantum Starship (Mark MacDonald) made a break from the outside post position.
Meanwhile, the other elim winner, Windsong Geant (Jody Jamieson), got off to a good start with Go Go Red Marty (Mike Saftic) tucking in behind and favourite Hidden Message (Paul MacDonell) following back in third. As they approached the first quarter mark of :27.2, however, Hidden Message rolled off stride as did Windsun Galaxie (Sylvain Filion). At that point, Text Me was spotted nearly 15 lengths off the lead.
Windsong Geant continued to show the way past the :57.2 half-mile mark while Text Me caught the field and began to pass rivals, catching cover from Scotty Doesnt Know (Jack Moiseyev) in the third interval. With Scotty Doesnt Know only making it up to the leader's saddle pad as they raced past three-quarters in 1:27, Waples tipped his charge three-wide and the son of Kadabra-Dial Nile kicked home in :29-seconds to win by three-quarters of a length in 1:56.3. Windsong Geant was second with Go Go Red Marty finishing third.
Text Me paid $6.40 to win as the 2-1 second choice in the field. The Bob McIntosh pupil notched his seventh win in 11 starts this year and pushed his earnings to $275,741. Breeders Robert McIntosh Stables Inc. of Windsor, ON and C S X Stables of Liberty Center, Ohio share ownership of the colt with Dave Boyle of Bowmanville, ON. The 2009 O’Brien Award nominee now boasts 10 wins on his lifetime record and $652,867 in earnings.
In the Gold Final for two-year-old pacing colts and geldings, Mach Of Ballykeel converted from a perfect pocket trip to pull off a stunning 27-1 upset.
Driven by Sylvain Filion, Mach Of Ballykeel found himself in the two-hole behind Kyron (Jody Jamieson) with elimination winner Cam B Zipper (Randy Waples) and Lyons Elite (Jack Moiseyev) making early breaks near the front. The favoured elim winner, Dr Dew (J.R. plante), also made a break behind the gate.
Mach Of Ballykeel, who finished fourth in his elimination, followed Kyron through fractions of :28.1, :57.4 and 1:26.1 before pulling the pocket and sprinting home in :28.2 for the three-length score in 1:55 flat. Kyron stayed for second with Cam B Zipper (Randy Waples) recovering to get third.
Mach Of Ballykeel returned $57.90 to win. The homebred Mach Three-Teig N Riley colt is trained by Cameron McKnight for Ballykeel Racing of Tillsonburg, ON. The win was his second in five lifetime starts and gave his bankroll a boost to $82,450.
To view Sunday's results, click here.