Oliver Wins Five; Mares Open To 'Rebeka'

Driver Keith Oliver hit the wire first with five of his 10 mounts Friday evening at Mohawk Racetrack

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Oliver had a win streak going as he captured races three through six. He guided Hi Edith ($4.30) to victory for trainer Jeff Gillis and then scored with the Anthony Montini-trained P Note Blue Chip ($5.50). He won his third dash in a row with the Noel Daley student Southwind Swallow ($4.20) and then clicked with the Montini-trained Love This Place ($5.90).

In race 11, Oliver and Montini found the winner's circle again. Oliver notched his fifth winner of the night with F Train ($8.40), which gave Montini a training triple.

Oliver, a resident of Lynden, Ont., has banked over $1.6 million in purses so far this season with 88 driving victories.

In Open action, driver Sylvain Filion worked out a perfect second over trip aboard Rebeka Bayama ($6.50) to win the $42,000 feature for fillies and mares in 1:51.1 by half a length over favourite Dreamfair Eternal (Chris Christoforou). Longshot Warrawee Koine (Paul MacDonell) finished one and a half lengths behind in third after carving out fractions of :26.2, :55.2 and 1:23.4.

The four-year-old Leader Bayama-Joyce Bayama mare, who has won two (consecutive) races in four starts this year, is trained by Justin Filion for owner-breeder Bayama Farms Inc. of Saint-Andre-D'Argenteuil, Que.

For Filion, the win was the first of three on the 12-race card.

Live racing returns to the Campbellville oval Saturday evening as its summer meet comes to a close. The 12-race program will feature eight $100,000 Ontario Sires Stakes Grassroots Finals. First race post time is 7:10 p.m.

For results from Friday's harness racing card, click on the following link: Friday Results - Mohawk Racetrack.

(With files from WEG)