As Grand Circuit stakes action ramps up at Woodbine Mohawk Park, some of Ontario's top performers will shift focus from provincial competition and aim to tackle some of the continent's best.

Three-year-olds have the Simcoe Stakes on the horizon, with fillies slated to head postward on Friday, Sept. 4. A Clean Deal has that stakes engagement on her radar, and the 2025 O'Brien Award winner tightened for that stakes event with a winning qualifying effort on Friday, Aug. 28.

Doug McNair settled A Clean Deal into second as stablemate Lauras Crush (James MacDonald) tripped the opening timers in :28.2 and :56.1. Around the far turn, A Clean Deal edged from the pocket and cleared to the lead before the 1:24.2 third station. She then paced home in :27.3 under no urging from McNair to hit the wire in 1:52. Lauras Crush finished second, 4-3/4 lengths back of the winner, with Control Heaven (Malik Smith) next across.

A Clean Deal is trained by Kyle Fellows for owners Yolanda Fellows of Rockwood, Ont., Blair Corbeil of Leduc, Alta., Windermere Stable LLC of New York, N.Y. and James Ross of Wingham, Ont. The sophomore daughter of Cattlewash-Ideal Talker sports a mark of 1:49.3, with a 11-1-2 summary from 15 starts and $772,226 in earnings.

The full video stream is available below. 

For results from the qualifying session, click the following link: Friday Results - Woodbine Mohawk Park (Qualifiers).

(Standardbred Canada)