The sky in Campbellville, Ontario will be awash with a pyrotechnic glow this Sunday, but the on-track fireworks get under way well before dark

, as 37 of the most talented sophomore trotters in the province clash in three $40,000 Ontario Sires Stakes Gold eliminations and a $130,000 Gold final.

Two of the three-year-old fillies making final preparations for the $130,000 Gold final hail from the Kevin O’Reilly stable, and the resident of Moffat, Ont. thinks either one could improve on the pair of second-place finishes they delivered in last week’s elimination round.

SOS Respect finished second to Butana in her elimination and will start from Post 4 in the Gold final, while stablemate Mystic River was a runner-up to Cumin First and gets Post 7 this Sunday.

“SOS Respect was pretty good, she just got a little far back,” noted O’Reilly, who conditions the Mr Lavec daughter for Terry and Clarence Devos of Langton, Ont. and Paul Barkley of Morrisburg, Ont.

“Last year she would try to go too much and make a break or something stupid,” the horseman added. “So we wanted to race her from the back of the bus for a few starts. Sooner or later we’re going to be able to spin the wheels, but we’ve just been trying to keep her head on her shoulders.”

As a two-year-old, SOS Respect made nine starts — winning one Gold elimination and finishing second in two — and earned a total of $64,600. O’Reilly is confident that the filly will improve on those statistics this year, and expects that she will continue to improve for several more seasons.

“She is a very big filly, she’s probably the biggest one in there,” he explained. “We are hoping to keep racing her for a few more seasons. Her mother is a sister to Snazzy Millie’s mother. She is a lot like 'Millie,' and Millie got better as she got older.”

Stablemate Mystic River is not as statuesque as SOS Respect, but O’Reilly thinks the lightly-raced daughter of Kadabra could be a sleeper in the sophomore trotting filly division this season.

“She just had no luck last year. She got sick twice at the wrong time, that’s why she didn’t race much, but she does have some talent,” the conditioner said.

Chris Ryder of Allentown, New Jersey, Deena Rachel Frost of Delray Beach, Florida and Max Wernick of New City, New York share ownership on Mystic River, who made just five appearances as a two-year-old, tallying $11,725. The filly’s sophomore season was almost delayed by another bout of sickness this spring, but O’Reilly was able to get the youngster qualified in time for last week’s elimination and is hopeful everything will be smooth sailing from here on for the slick-gaited trotter.

“She’s pretty handy; you can do anything you want with her. She’s a little like a pacer that way,” O’Reilly noted. “She is pretty talented; hopefully she’ll be able to do a little bit this year, that one.”

Slated for Race 8 on Mohawk Racetrack’s Sunday evening program, the Gold final will follow a trio of Gold elims for the three-year-old trotting colts. Races 2, 4 and 7 will feature 27 of the top male trotters in the province, including last season’s Grassroots Champion Lukas Rossi, who starts from Post 9 in the fourth race for trainer Ron O’Neill and P C Wellwood Enterprises Inc. of Cambridge, Ont. and Nancy Stephens of Woodstock, Ont.

Before he harnesses elimination winner Butana in the Gold final, trainer Charalambos Christoforou will send out her stablemate Equity from Post 2 in the second race. The trotting colt heads into his first Gold elim with a flawless record of two wins in two starts for Christoforou and Banjo Farms of Toronto.

The last trotting colt elim features Tie Silk Trotting Series winner Breewood Gringo from Post 2. The Amigo Hall son returns to action after a three-week break for owner/trainer/driver Stephen Loughran of Princeton, Ont. The top three finishers from each elimination, plus one fourth-place finisher drawn by lot, will return to Mohawk for their first Gold final on Monday, May 25.

Sunday evening’s program gets underway at 6:30 p.m., with the Ontario-sired stars lighting up the oval in Races 2, 4, 7 and 8. Mohawk Racetrack’s outstanding fireworks display will light up the Campbellville sky following the ninth race.

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(OSS)