Woodbine Mohawk Park fans were treated to an Ontario Sires Stakes smorgasbord on Friday, Aug. 20 with a pair of $100,000-plus Gold Series divisions for the two-year-old trotting fillies and three $23,850 Grassroots divisions for the three-year-old pacing colts.

Dabra Day kicked things off in the first $101,400 Gold Series split with a front end effort that saw her sail through fractions of :27.2, :57.1, 1:25.4 and on to a half-length victory in a 1:55.2 personal best. Resolving was a hard-closing second and pocket-sitting favourite Elegant Mermaid was third.

“We’re very excited about her,” said trainer Meg Crone. “She has tons of talent, just very, very quirky. My husband (Anthony Haughan), he absolutely loves her, but he is the most patient person in the world. I don’t know if she’d have come this far if someone else had her, because she’s very trying. He deserves all the credit with her. I wouldn’t even say she’s a handful, I can’t even describe her.”

Louis-Philippe Roy of Guelph, Ont. piloted the Kadabra daughter to her second lifetime win for Cambridge, Ont. resident Crone and owners W. J. Donovan of Monument Beach, Massachusetts and Purnel And Libby LLC of Delray Beach, Florida. Dabra Day was victorious in the first leg of the Pure Ivory Series on July 22 at Woodbine Mohawk Park, but she also has a pair of breaks on her card through five starts.

“Her gait is flawless,” said Crone. “She actually only wears the trotting hopples just because she’ll see something and it will just throw her off, but she’s a great gaited filly and she wants to please you, she’s just quirky.”

In the second $102,200 Gold division, Adare Castle extended her flawless record to three with an impressive off-the-pace effort for driver James MacDonald of Guelph, Ont. Fourth at the three-quarter marker, the fan favourite laid down a :27.1 final fraction to grab the 1:55.3 victory, digging in hard at the wire to hold off a fast-closing Mischevious Rose by a head. Needa Little Magic was six lengths back in third.

“She got away a little farther back than I would have liked, and James said that himself. He said, ‘We didn’t get her in the right position,’ but she’s just such a gutsy thing and just keeps going forward,” said trainer Mark Etsell. “He said, ‘I thought Bobby (McClure with Mischevious Rose) was going to go right by me, and I asked again and she dug in and went.’ She’s just a good horse.”

Rockwood, Ont. resident Etsell shares ownership of Adare Castle with Robert Newton of Walkerton, Ont., Graham Hopkins of Chesley, Ont., and Peter Porter of Port Dover, Ont. The partners were relieved to see the Muscle Mass daughter race well after missing a few days last week due to a bout of abdominal discomfort.

“It was weird, the day we were going to school her I said, ‘That filly doesn’t look right,’ and took her temperature and she had a bit of a temperature,” said Etsell, who then called his veterinarian out to examine Adare Castle. “She was little colicky and it wasn’t like a major, major thing, but there was something bugging her in her stomach so we had to do the normal colic stuff and then she had a couple of days off.

“I trained her on the Friday and she was a little blah, but she can be that way. She kind of fools you. She knows the difference between racing and training,” added Etsell. “She jogs every day with loose lines, and she putts around there like a 14-year-old, but when you bring her to the track here tonight, her ears are up and she grabs a hold of the bit, like, ‘Okay I know what it is, it’s race time.’ And that’s only three starts in, so I’m pretty tickled.”

Father and son team Gregg and Doug McNair were also ticked with the performance of their three-year-old pacing geldings, who swept all three Grassroots divisions.

Jimmy Connor B kicked things off in the first pacing colt division, taking command heading by the half and keeping the pedal down on the way to a one-length victory in a personal best 1:50.1. No Plan Intended and Twin B Fighter were second and third behind the fan favourite.

“Jimmy, he was good tonight, real good,” said trainer Gregg McNair, who shares ownership of the Big Jim gelding with Grand Slam Stable of Walkerton, Ont. “I think we’re getting a little used to him and he’s got better. At the start there, he was even hard to warm up and he’s not hard to warm up now, and he’s been pretty good to race the last few starts, keep your fingers crossed, but he’s been pretty good.”

The win was Jimmy Connor B’s second in Grassroots action and his fourth of the sophomore campaign.

In the second division, Doug McNair fired Stonebridge Rex away from Post 6 and the fan favourite reeled off fractions of :26, :54.4 and 1:22.3 on his way to a personal best 1:49.3, three lengths ahead of Century Hannibal. Saltwater Savage was two more lengths back in third.

“He was one of the better colts last year in the Grassroots,” said the trainer. “He was really good tonight. He beat a pretty nice bunch of horses. A couple of the better ones maybe had poor positions and stuff, but he sure raced good.”

A two-time Grassroots winner at two, Stonebridge Rex had been winless before Friday’s effort. Guelph, Ont. resident Gregg McNair co-owns the Control The Moment son with breeder Angie Stiller of Arva, Ont., and Gary Colter of Mississauga, Ont.

Team McNair completed the Grassroots trifecta with Bettor Sun, who took command before the half and motored around the Woodbine Mohawk Park oval to a 1:49.4 victory. Cantstoplying and Armor Seelster finished one and three-quarter lengths back in second and third.

“You could tell by the way the betting board was they thought he was in where he could do, but he raced good,” said McNair of the fan favourite. “I don’t think he was pacing quite as good as he has been the last couple starts up here before he went to Cleveland, but he raced good. I hope that he’ll be a little bit braver off of that mile there tonight.”

The win was the first in sophomore Ontario Sires Stakes action for Bettor Sun. The Sunshine Beach gelding’s last start came in the August 14 Carl Millstein Memorial at Northfield Park, where he finished fifth. Gregg McNair shares ownership of Bettor Sun with Willow Oak Ranch of Rogersville, Tennessee.

The Campbellville, Ont. oval wraps up an exciting week of Ontario Sires Stakes action on Saturday, Aug. 21 with a single $154,800 Gold Series division for the three-year-old pacing colts. The pacing colts will compete in Race 9 on the card, which gets under way at 7 p.m. Fans can download a program and watch the live stream on the Woodbine Mohawk Park website or register to attend in person.

To view Friday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Friday Results - Woodbine Mohawk Park.

(With files from OSS)