Emoticon Legacy ruled over the Woodbine Mohawk Park surface again when beating his own track and national record as the first trotting sophomore to eclipse the 1:50 barrier in Canada while winning the $615,000 Canadian Trotting Classic (Grade 1) on Saturday, Sept. 20. 

Driver Louis-Philippe Roy sent Emoticon Legacy towards the top against Happy Jack B (Ake Svanstedt) in a charge to the first turn. Emoticon Legacy cleared to command after a :25.4 first quarter and coasted for a slight reprieve up the backside to a :54.3 half.

Last year's Mohawk Million champion Maryland (Dexter Dunn), racing in fourth, pulled off the pegs and loomed along the rim towards Emoticon Legacy, though Roy promptly notched his charge into another gear off three-quarters in 1:22.1 and scampered away. 

Emoticon Legacy sealed the race by the eighth pole as Roy raced purely against the clock, nursing the emboldened colt on loose lines to register a 1:49.4 mile. Maryland gave pursuit in second, beaten three lengths, with Gap Kronos S (Tim Tetrick) taking third.

“That was the first time this year that leaving the gate he was a little hot,” said Roy after the race. “He wasn’t giving me the option, so I was just sitting on him waiting. I was just letting him trot – once he was on the front, I could do what I want. But I saw Maryland coming first-up at the half and I said, ‘I don’t think it’s a good time to take a break and get him close to us.’ I feel like he never gets tired. I hope he doesn’t get me wrong, but I think he’ll be pretty hard to beat.

“The first quarter took a bit more stress than last time,” Roy also said, referencing the colt’s 1:50.3 Simcoe Stakes win on Aug. 30. “You ask a trotter to go a first quarter in :25.4, for sure he’s going to get a little tired. But he keeps trotting and comes a last quarter in :27 or something. Tonight was probably all he could go, and I still believe that [in the Simcoe] he had at least a full second under his seat. He loves to fight a horse, so once he’s on the front and gets one coming to him, I think that’s what would’ve pushed him to go faster. Right now, he’s hard to beat that way.”

The 1:49.4 mile lowered the 1:50.2 track and Canadian record for three-year-old trotters that Emoticon Legacy established earlier this season when winning the Goodtimes Stakes on Pepsi North America Cup night. It also matched the all-age records of 1:49.4 set by older stallion Aetos Kronos S when winning his Maple Leaf Trot elimination this year, but comes shy of the fastest trotting mile ever in Canada of 1:49.1 set by aged gelding Lexus Kody in this year’s Maple Leaf Trot final.

Luc Blais trains Emoticon Legacy, a homebred Walner colt out of the O'Brien Award-winning Kadabra mare Emoticon Hanover, for owner Determination of Montreal, Que. ​

“He learned how to deal with the pressure this year,” said Blais. “I think he’s more mature, that’s it. He’s a real athlete. He recuperates fast after each race, he’s never sick. That’s easy for me to deal with. It’s an incredible feeling. Emoticon Hanover gave us a big thrill and that guy gives me the same feeling.”

Emoticon Legacy has now won 10 races from 15 starts and entered millionaire status with $1,178,770 in the bank. 

Sent postward as the 1-5 favourite, he paid $2.60 to win.

Roy, Blais and Determination teamed up for their third win on the 13-race card and picked up their second Grade 1 stakes victory on the night after winning the $375,000 Elegantimage Stakes earlier with three-year-old trotting filly Lasting Dream.

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

(With files from Woodbine)