Greystone Ladylike Upsets 'Monkey'
Greystone Ladylike kicked home off cover to put an end to Monkey On My Wheel's long running win streak in the $30,000 Fillies & Mares Preferred Pace early Friday evening at Woodbine Racetrack.
Voelz Hanover (Randy Waples) fired off the gate from post five and made the lead into a :26.3 first quarter over insider Barockey (Anthony MacDonald). But 4-5 favourite Monkey On My Wheel (Keith Oliver), in search of her eighth consecutive win, made her move down the backstretch and swept from third to first, clearing at the :56.2 half-mile marker.
As the field of six headed to the 1:24 three-quarters station, Swinging Beauty (Doug McNair) and the Scott Zeron-driven Greystone Ladylike tipped to the outside after watching the lead change hands from fourth and fifth.
Monkey On My Wheel maintained her lead into the stretch, but couldn't hold off a pair of late challenges coming from both sides. Greystone Ladylike rallied off cover and outsprinted her foes on the outside while Voelz Hanover shot up the pylons to place just a half-length back. Monkey On My Wheel settled for third nearly three lengths behind in her first loss since early November 2012. Swinging Beauty was fourth and Barockey earned the final paycheque in fifth.
Greystone Ladylike shaved one-fifth of a second off her lifetime mark with the 1:51.1 upset victory. She returned $28.30 to her backers as the 13-1 fourth choice.
Brent Belore trains the homebred four-year-old daughter of Stonebride Regal for Jim and Jean Caddey of Embro, Ont. With a 5-5-1 seasonal record in 13 starts, Greystone Ladylike has banked $108,090 in purses this year and is the first horse racing solely in Canada to surpass $100,000 in earnings this season. Lifetime, she has won 11 races while collecting $188,384.
Richard Moreau led all trainers with three wins on the card, helping O'Brien Award winner Sylvain Filion to a driving grand slam.
To view Friday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Friday Results - Woodbine Racetrack.