Hamather’s Homebreds Hope For Spot In Molson Pace
Longtime standardbred breeder and owner Bob Hamather has captured many of the sport’s top stakes events, and on Friday night he has two homebred full brothers vying to earn a spot into the rich Molson Pace at his home track of Western Fair Raceway.
Hamather’s starters are the Camluck geldings Wholly Louy and Legal Litigator, both trained by three-time O’Brien Award winner as Canada’s Trainer of the Year, Casie Coleman. Between the two brothers they’ve earned well over a million dollars to date.
Legal Litigator has drawn the rail in the first elimination (Race 8) with Mark MacDonald down to drive. It will mark the first Canadian start of the 2010 season for the five-year-old who has been racing at Yonkers Raceway in New York where he has been impressive in five legs and the final of the George Morton Levy Series.
In most recent start, the $460,000 final of the 'Levy,' he finished second, timed in 1:52.2. Legal Litigator comes into the Molson Pace with standings of 3-2-4 in 14 starts this year for $206,740 in earnings. Lifetime he has earned $520,774.
His full brother, Wholly Louy, will start two races later, in the third Molson Pace elimination (Race 10) where he’s drawn Post 3 with MacDonald in the bike. The six-year-old has $72,000 earned to date this year and $582,047 made lifetime. Friday’s start will also mark Wholly Louy’s first Canadian appearance this year, as he has also been competing at Yonkers.
The brothers are both from the Artsplace mare By Desire, another homebred of Hamather’s. She is a sister to several of his good performers including By Xample ($559,000), N Example ($562,000) and N Aboriginal ($343,000).
The top two finishers in each of the three eliminations will qualify for the $225,000 (added) final along with two of the third place finishers drawn by lot. The final goes Friday, May 28.
To view free, printable program pages of the Molson Pace elims, courtesy of TrackIT, click the corresponding links listed below.
• Elim #1 - Race 8
• Elim #2 - Race 9
• Elim #3 - Race 10
To view all the entries for Western Fair's Friday card, click here.
The fields for the three elims are listed below.
Elim #1 - Race 8
Post - Horse
1 - Legal Litigator
2 - Stonebridge Terror
3 - Primary Purpose
4 - Southwind Lynx
5 - Anderlecht
6 - Keep It Real
7 - Bay Of Sharks
Elim #2 - Race 9
Post - Horse
1 - Blueridge Western
2 - Lucky Man
3 - Panmunjom
4 - Won The West
5 - Carnivore
6 - Bigtime Ball
7 - Mr Wiggles
8 - Annieswesterncard
Elim #3 - Race 10
Post - Horse
1 - Chasin Racin
2 - Foiled Again
3 - Wholly Louy
4 - Hypnotic Blue Chip
5 - Go Go Solano
6 - Pangiorno
7 - River Shark
(Western Fair)
What a shame it is that
What a shame it is that HPItv does not have this great card at WFR on their schedule. Three fields packed with some great FFA'ers, three OSS Gold elims and overall product that has been vastly improved, showing wagering increase and fan support. In todays challenging market, anything that piques interest in our fan base should be made a priority. Maybe WEG didnt anticipate this type of card but I would hope they could make the necessary adjustments to have the full card aired on HPItv for Friday night.