Two-year-old pacing colts and geldings made their way to Mohawk Park on Monday evening in a pair of rich, OSS Gold divisions, and it wasn’t a good night for the favourites.

Velocity Rukkus split through rivals in deep stretch to post a 5-1 upset in his $108,000 division with driver Randy Waples at the controls.

The son of Sportswriter-Maureen Rocks got away in the pocket spot while Denali Seelster sliced out the opening quarter in :28.2. YS Mathis then marched past that foe and sped the field past the mid-way point in :56.3. Denali Seelster moved back to the lead and had the field chasing him past the three-quarter pole in 1:24.4, but hot on his heels was Examiner Hanover.

As the group entered the lane it was still Denali Seelster hanging on to a slim lead, but challengers were starting to fire from the backfield. Waples stick handled through traffic in the lane and Velocity Rukkus used a :26.4 final frame to win by a length over Denali Seelster in 1:52.1. One For Julius closed from far back to finish third.

“He’s a very handy horse, quick when he needs to be and very smart,” said Waples. “He’s a real nice horse and pulled me out of a hopeless spot.”

Mark Evers trains the colt for Velocity Standardbreds of Lebanon, OH. The victory improved his record to 1-1-0 from two attempts and the lion’s share of the rich purse bumped his bankroll to $81,000.

Tattoo Artist, who was sent off at odds of 7-1, was a handy winner in an identical clocks of 1:52.1 for the tandem of driver Sylvain Filion and trainer Dr. Ian Moore.

Filion got away third with the son of Hes Watching-Stylish Artist while Noch Ten fired to the front and put up an opening panel in :26.3. Filion moved Tattoo Artist to the lead in the backstretch and once he cleared he rolled the field through middle panels of :55.2 and 1:24. He kicked home in :28.1 and drew clear to win by four lengths over race favourite Bettorbuckleup. Choir Master took home third prize.

“We were sort of on the fence a little bit, humming and hawing, but then when we jogged him back, his first time jogging back he was right on the bit all proud of himself and everything and I just thought ah, we’ll give him a shot,” said trainer Dr. Ian Moore of the decision to move Tattoo Artist from the Grassroots up to the Gold Series. “And the way the draw worked out, I thought the other race was a little tougher on paper than this one and I thought, you know, if he’s all right he’ll handle them. We figured he’d step up another second or two so we’re obviously very pleased.

“I’m going to look everything over tomorrow, including the dates for all the upcoming races, and we’re going to decide on the Battle of Waterloo. I won that race in ’09 and haven’t had much luck with that since,” added Moore. “We’ll consider it all and go from there. I’d kind of like to see this fellow go a little longer into the year because he is very young and all that sort of thing, so we’ll come up with a plan over the next couple of days for him.”

Frank Cannon and Let It Ride Stables share ownership on the undefeated youngster who was a winner in an OSS Grassroots event nine days ago. His Gold Series triumph lifted his lifetime earnings to $65,750.

(With quotes from OSS)

To view results for Monday's card of harness racing, click the following link: Monday Results – Woodbine Mohawk Park.