A pair of maidens graced a talented field of two-year-old trotting colts and geldings in Thursday evening’s $130,000 O.S.S. Gold Series final at Woodbine Racetrack, but only one of those youngsters went home with his

maiden status still intact.

Air Stewart was 0-for-9 going into the rich tilt, but he went home 1-for-10 thanks to his 1:56.3 score for driver Mario Baillargeon and trainer Ben Wallace. The son of Striking Sahbra-Ten Queens, who has been a steady cheque-getter all season, survived a tough trip to post the winning effort.

Baillargeon tucked into the fifth with his charge while Imperial Count (Steve Condren) and race favourite Buckhams Bay (Jacques Hebert) battled to the quarter pole in :27.3 before the latter cleared to the lead. Once in command, Buckhams Bay led the field through middle splits of :57.1 and 1:27.4 before coming under fierce pressure around the final turn.

Air Stewart, who was on the move at the mid-way point gained ground up the backstretch and did more of the same around the last turn before kicking home in :28.3 and ultimately driving away to win by 3-1/2 lengths over Buckhams Bay. Sim Brown (Randy Waples) used a :28.2 final quarter of his own to finish a fast-closing third.

“He’s been a bit of a work in progress all summer,” said trainer Ben Wallace. “He’s raced great but to be honest he was kind of programmed to be good later in the year than sooner. We didn’t over stress him early. You got a 1-9 horse in there [Buckhams Bay] and you never know how good they are but it’s the Fall of the year and they have all raced tough.

I don’t think Buckhams Bay was as good as he was earlier or wasn’t on his game tonight,” Wallace added. “It was a pretty credible performance tonight by my colt. I’m very pleased and I always knew that he was capable of putting this type of trip together and it’s just taken him all summer to do it.”

Doug Millard of Woodstock along with Canamerica Capital Corp and Hyatt Holdings Inc of Milton, ON share ownership on the rookie, who now boasts a 1-4-1 record in 11 starts. Purchased for $55,000 at last year’s Lexington Selected Yearling Sale, Air Stewart has stashed away $133,883 to date.

To view Thursday’s results, click here.