Mickie Mantle rallied four-wide in the final turn to win the $35,211 top-tier final of Jim McDonald Memorial Claiming Series at Tioga Downs, kicking off a natural hat trick for trainer Kevin Reynolds Jr. during the Friday, July 24 program.

Ima Happy Fella GB (Jim Panteleano) fronted the field in the final for $12,500 USD claiming pacers, with fractions clocked in :26.3, :55 and 1:24 while the parked out Gotta Go Gram (Fern Paquet Jr.) put pressure on the leader. As they raced around the final turn, Double Up N (Mike Merton) went three-wide from behind before stablemate Mickie Mantle joined the fray four-wide for driver Ridge Warren then blew by his fading inside foes into the stretch, winning in 1:53.2. Bad Boy Too (Cory Stratton) came on to finish second by a length and Ship Disturber (Joe Chindano Jr.) was third.

A former multiple-stakes winner in British Columbia and Alberta, Mickie Mantle joined the Reynolds Jr. stable in late June and has won four consecutive races at Tioga since, including two legs of the series. He paid $3.34 to win as part of the favoured 3-5 entry.

With his current winning momentum, the six-year-old Custard The Dragon-N Y Yankees gelding pushed his career totals to 23 victories and $352,111 in purse earnings.

Reynolds completed his training triple with 14-year-old pacer Real Lucky N (Jim Pantaleano) winning the $21,127 final of the McDonald Series for $7,500 USD claimers in 1:53.1 and P L Quesadilla (Braxten Boyd) taking the $11,268 consolation in 1:54 off the claim.

Live harness racing returns to Tioga Downs on Saturday, July 25 with post time at 6:15 p.m. 

(Standardbred Canada with files from Tioga Downs)