Trainer Zach Carroll's homebred Cant Turn You Down kicked off the Friday, July 31 stakes action at Woodbine Mohawk Park, winning the fastest of three Ontario Sires Stakes Grassroots divisions in a third leg of the series for three-year-old pacing fillies.

Bob McClure drove the lightly raced filly Cant Turn You Down to a career-best 1:50.1 victory in her stakes debut for Carroll, who co-owns with Sean Downey of Strathroy, Ont.

Cant Turn You Down made front at the quarter pole in :26.1 before Horse With A Plan (Travis Cullen) took over for middle splits of :55.3 and 1:23.1. However, Cant Turn You Down reeled in the leader off the final turn and sprinted away in a :26.3 final quarter to win by more than three lengths. Jay (Mark MacDonald) took third.

Cant Turn You Down, a daughter of Cattlewash out of Amulet Seelster, improved her record to four-for-six in her first racing season. She paid $3.80 to win as the 4-5 bettors' choice.

Favourites swept the Grassroots divisions, with James MacDonald driving the other two winners, My Girl Friday ($4.90) and McBubbles ($4.70).

My Girl Friday notched her second Grassroots victory while lowering her lifetime mark to 1:50.3 after fighting back the pocket-puller, Jen Tilly (Bob McClure), who held on for second over late-closer Artistic Delight (Phil Hudon) in a place photo 1-1/4-length behind. Anthony Beaton trains the winning Sportswriter-Trama Unit filly for owners 9663622 Canada Inc. of Gatineau, Que., and Robert Shepherd of Mirabel, Que.

McBubbles turned in a career-best 1:50.4 effort to land back in the winner's circle after taking the Kin Pace at Clinton Raceway earlier this month for trainer John Pentland and owner Hutt Racing Stable of Malvern, Pennsylvania. James MacDonald picked up the catch-drive on the McWicked-Lady Bubble miss and they defeated early leaders P N G Shadow (Mark MacDonald) and A Bets A Bet (Jody Jamieson) for the one-length victory.

Sharp victories by Detonater Hanover ($4.70) and Three Six Zero ($2.80) on Friday night sets up an intriguing matchup for next week’s Grade 3 Millard Farms Stakes.

A pair of $25,000 eliminations were contested for the Millard Farms, an event for two-year-old trotters. The top five finishers from each punched their ticket to the $155,000 final. Formerly a three-week series, the Millard Farms switched to an elimination-final format this year.

Dr. Ian Moore trainee Detonater Hanover turned heads in the first elimination by posting a national season’s record clocking of 1:53.4 to win easily by 3-1/2 lengths. The winning is the fifth fastest by a rookie trotter this season in North America.

Driven by Moore's son Tyler, Detonater Hanover got away third during a :27.2 opening panel before moving to the lead in the second quarter. Fractions of :56.3 and 1:25.2 were posted before Detonater Hanover finished the job with a :28.2 kicker to secure a maiden-breaking win in his third start. Slight favourite Access Now (Bob McClure) finished second while Danz Card (Tyler Borth) took third. Rounding out the top five, Maximum Pressure (Tyler Jones) and The Italian Job (Jonathan Drury) will also advance to the final.

Detonater Hanover, a son of Muscle Mass out of Dancing Flames, was a $112,676 yearling purchase at last fall's Standardbred Horse Sale and has now earned $59,030 for the ownership group of Detonater Hanover Stable of Cambridge, Ont. 

Three Six Zero got a perfect tune-up trip in the second elimination, sitting third throughout before powering home for a career-best 1:55.3 win in rein to Jody Jamieson for trainer Kyle Fellows.

Honcho (Doug McNair) marched forward to command in the early stages and posted fractions of :29.1, :58.2 and 1:27.1. Mahalo (Trevor Henry) sat on the leader’s back while Three Six Zero followed right behind in third until angling out nearing three-quarters. Three Six Zero trotted home in :28 to overhaul the top pair by 3-1/4 lengths. Mahalo got second over Honcho. First-time starter Summit Bid (James MacDonald) was fourth while Bacio Blue Chip (Mark MacDonald) overcame a backstretch break to get up for fifth.

Three Six Zero came into the elimination off a close runner-up finish in an OSS Gold event on July 24 and now has three wins in five starts with $69,250 in earnings. The Muscle Mass-Feel Invincible As gelding was a $69,444 yearling purchase from the Lexington Select Sale for owners Yolanda Fellows of Rockwood, Ont., Blair Corbeil of Leduc, Alta., Windermere Stable of New York City, New York and Hopkins-Porter of Chelsey, Ont. 

Elimination winners drew for posts two through six for the final, which will be contested next Friday, Aug. 7. The field for the final is listed below in post position order.

$155,000 Millard Farms Stakes (Grade 3)
Post – Horse – Elimination Driver – Trainer
1. The Italian Job - Jonathan Drury - Rick Zeron
2. Danz Card - Tyler Borth - Ben Baillargeon
3. Mahalo - Trevor Henry - Rick Zeron
4. Detonater Hanover - Tyler Moore - Dr. Ian Moore
5. Maximum Pressure - Tyler Jones - Dustin Jones
6. Three Six Zero - Jody Jamieson - Kyle Fellows
7. Access Now - Bob McClure - Luc Blais
8. Summit Bid - James MacDonald - Shawn Steacy
9. Bacio Blue Chip - Mark MacDonald - Bruce Richardson
10. Honcho - Doug McNair - Gregg McNair
AE. Tempson - Trevor Henry - Shannon Henry

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

(Standardbred Canada with files from Woodbine)