Two-year-old fillies were on display Tuesday night (Aug. 7) at Woodbine Mohawk Park, with three Ontario Sires Stakes Grassroots events on the trot sharing the spotlight and all three winners breaking maiden.
In the $19,150 first division (race two), Rebellious Lady ($3.40) brushed boldly from third under Scott Young to seize command from Galaxy Seelster (Stephen Byron) up the far side and refused to look back en route to a 2:00.1 score. After turning a mild challenge from Luckyjohanna (Trevor Henry) away off the home turn, Rebellious Lady was kept to task through the final eighth to withstand an inside rally from Galaxy Seelster and prevail by half a length. Pyrrha (James MacDonald) was a ground-saving third.
Robert Young trains Rebellious Lady, a daughter of Angus Hall and Radical Missy, for Hugh Fitzpatrick.
The $19,150 second division (race six) saw another favourite call the shots in Order Mattie (Doug Brown), but Blue Magic ($35.70) and Chris Christoforou were able to upend the chalk after stalking live second-over cover to the far turn and vaulting three-wide above the eighth pole. Blue Magic reached the lead in the final sixteenth and edged away to beat Order Mattie by a length in 2:00. At Will (J.B. Renaud) gave chase from the pocket to take third.
Susanne Kerwood trains Kadabra-Blue Muscles filly Blue Magic for Tommy Andersson.
Another favourite was engulfed in the $19,500 third division (race eight), as Splurge On Me's (Henry) move from the pocket off the far turn was one-upped by Kenogami Darling ($25.10) and Bob McClure, who overcame failing cover midway on the far turn and drew off by six lengths for a 1:59.2 score, the fastest of the night's Grassroots splits. The Justice Hall-Profound Wisdom filly was forced to circle three-wide around a fading Mattys Smilin (Byron) on the far turn before chasing down Snooker (Doug McNair) in upper stretch before opening up at will. Splurge On Me held second over the late-rallying Tymal Royalty (Jamieson), who shook free from traffic when the outer flow weakened.
Dany Fontaine trains Kenogami Darling for Jean Francois and Claude Reid.
Juvenile pacing fillies were on display in the second round of the Whenuwishuponastar series, with Undefiable ($15.60) capturing the $14,000 preliminary event (race seven) from an earned pocket in 1:52.2.
Undefiable, who didn’t compete in the first leg, was fired out to the lead by driver Bob McClure to post a :28.1 opener. Abuelita Hanover (MacDonald) rushed from third to first in the second quarter and led the rookies by the half in :56.3 and would carry the lead to three-quarters in 1:24.4.
McClure pulled from the two-hole before reaching three-quarters to get a strong-looking Undefiable up alongside the leader and ahead of a rushing Deb (Henry). In the stretch, Undefiable grinded away to regain the lead and paced to the wire first to defeat a late-splitting Beach Bar (Paul MacDonnell) by a neck. Deb finished third, while Abuelita Hanover was fourth.
Undefiable entered Tuesday’s contest off a 1:55 maiden-breaking score on July 27. She now has two wins and two runner-up finishes in four starts. A daughter of Ponder and Breathdefying, Undefiable is a homebred for Robert McIntosh Stables Inc, C S X Stables and Dave Boyle.
To view Tuesday's harness racing results, click the following link: Tuesday Results – Woodbine Mohawk Park.
(with files from WEG)