The three-year-old stars of the Ontario Sires Stakes contested their $300,000 Gold Super Finals on Saturday, Oct. 11 at Woodbine Mohawk Park, bringing the 2025 season of the provincial program to a close.
Monalishi Masterful In Final Filly Trot Showdown
Monalishi brushed off a break in her previous start with a platinum performance in the Super Final for three-year-old filly trotters.
The daughter of Green Manalishi S-Pretty Phylly G came into her championship appointment off an early miscue that resulted in a distanced finish in the final OSS Gold leg on Sept. 30. On Saturday night, she was simply flawless.
Exquisite Taste (J.R. Plante) blasted off the wings from post six and soared to the front as Foxy Amee (Doug McNair) and Green Glider (Trevor Henry) settled into second and third, respectively, on the first turn. James MacDonald, at the controls of Monalishi, crossed over from post nine and eventually found her a seat in fifth through an opening panel in :26.2. It was Exquisite Taste still controlling the tempo after a half in :55.2, with MacDonald tipping Monalishi second-over behind Bright Green (Louis-Philippe Roy) on the final turn while 1-2 choice Stormont Beautiful (Bob McClure), who had been eighth, stepped to the outer flow and looked to gain ground on the leaders heading for home.
Exquisite Taste, on top though three-quarters in 1:24, looked to fend off her pursuers as the pace picked up. Fifth in early stretch, Monalishi began to pick off her rivals, and a revved-up Stormont Beautiful was roused by McClure and loomed a major threat for all the spoils. With 50 metres to go, Monalishi finally wore down a game Exquisite Taste and then resisted a final surge from Stormont Beautiful to best that rival by three-quarters of a length in a lifetime-best 1:52.1. Exquisite Taste finished third.
“Last week in post parade, I didn’t love how she felt,” said MacDonald. “She tried to back herself off the gate, which wasn’t like her, and when I asked her, she made a miscue. Tonight, I was jogging her around, and she felt like a million bucks. [Trainer] Blake [MacIntosh] and his team and [caretaker] Mike [Rivet] did an amazing job on her, because she was a different horse tonight. She felt great and I was able to do whatever I wanted and, luckily, it worked out.
“Honestly, I loved where I was. I know they had raced hard up front, so I figured they would be getting a little tired and my horse usually kicks off cover like a freight train.”
Tim Klemencic of Trenton, Ont., who co-owns the sophomore trotter with MacIntosh of St. George, Ont., was thrilled to see Monalishi stay flat and win after her previous start.
“We had big hopes for this year, but we’ve had horses for a long time, and you take the good with the bad, and when we’re racing good, everything is good,” said Klemencic. “It was a tough summer knowing that we had a good filly, but she was stuck in a stall for a while. Even a couple of times we thought we had her good, then she made uncharacteristic breaks. But right now we think she’s good. The time off hopefully helped her, and we’ll see what will happen the next couple of weeks.”
Monalishi went 6-2-0 from 10 starts in her rookie campaign. She made a miscue in her first career start after hitting the gate but then reeled off three straight scores and won the $390,000 Peaceful Way in August. The filly, bred by Shmuel Farhi, is now four-for-eight this season with wins in an OSS Gold, the New York New York Mile, and her SBOA Stakes elimination. Monalishi now sports a 10-4-0 career record from 18 starts, along with $884,125 in earnings. She paid $14.10 for the victory.
Chantilly Defends Her Crown
While her 2025 campaign has not lived up to the massive hype created from a blemish-free Canadian Horse of the Year-winning freshman season a year ago, Chantilly proved once again that there’s no place like home, taking the Super Final for sophomore pacing fillies.
Driver James MacDonald was in no hurry with Chantilly, who had drawn the rail in the eight-horse field. Simply The Best (J.R. Plante) and Perfectly Chic (Bob McClure) were away from the gate alertly, and that duo raced one-two around the first turn while Chantilly was in the three-hole to the quarter in :26.1. MacDonald gave Chantilly the go-ahead after the field straightened up, and she responded with a quick brush to command just after the three-eighths. The Nick Gallucci trainee reached the half in :55.1 after a leisurely second fraction of :29.
The action heading to the far turn was limited to Wicked N Single (Louis-Philippe Roy) moving first-over towards the front of the pack, but she never threatened the tandem of Chantilly and Simply The Best, who were one-two at three-quarters in 1:23. It was then coronation time for the queen of the Ontario Sires Stakes trotting fillies, who reigned supreme for a second straight year on the circuit. The winner of 10 of 11 lifetime OSS starts opened up some real estate in mid-stretch before polishing off another impressive win with a final quarter of :27, stopping the clock in 1:51.
Simply The Best was a length back in second, with Perfectly Chic third.
“Oh, it’s a dream come true when you get to sit behind horses like her,” MacDonald said. “She’s just a Cadillac. She’s given me so many thrills the last couple of years, and it’s a real honour to get to do it with [owner] George [Millar] and Nick; we’ve been doing this a while together, and it’s been a good partnership, and I can’t wait to see what the future holds.
“She’s always good. [Even on] her off nights, she’s still good. She’s just a pro, and she just knows how to win. She’s done a lot of it in her career, and it’s just great to see her win the Super Final. Not too many horses go back-to-back, so that’s another feather in her cap.”
Chantilly, as the 1-9 favourite, paid $2.10 to win. She improved to six-for-nine on the season.
"I’m really happy with the last couple of weeks that she’s had," Gallucci said of his prized pupil, who has dealt with some illness issues. "Last week [in an eight-length romp in 1:50.2], she was deadly, and I just can’t thank the horse enough for the ride that she’s taken us on.
[She’s] an absolute pleasure to have and a pleasure to train.”
When Mohawk’s John Rallis asked about the possibility of Chantilly entering the Breeders Crown, Gallucci was quick to respond.
“Absolutely,” he said. “We’ll see how she comes out of the race, but definitely the plan is to enter her Tuesday morning for the Breeders Crown elimination Saturday.”
Millar Farms of Stouffville, Ont. owns and bred Chantilly, a daughter of Big Jim-Shiraz Seelster.
George Millar of Millar Farms was predictably pleased in the winner’s circle.
“She’s a great filly and, hopefully, we’ll get another couple of weeks out of her and then she can have a nice winter off,” he said.
Millar made it clear where he stands on the province’s program.
“I think I’ve said this quite a few times: to me, this is the best program around," he said. "We saw what Beau Jangles can do and he hasn’t left the province. We breed some good horses and you don’t have to go that far to make money, so I think it’s the best program dollar-for-dollar around. We’ll always breed up here.”
Chantilly has now amassed 15 wins from 18 lifetime starts, good for earnings of $1,293,462. She is 15-for-16 at Mohawk, with her only loss coming against older rivals.
P L Spencer Romps To Super Final Victory
Heavy favorite P L Spencer turned in an impressive effort, comfortably winning the Super Final for sophomore trotting colts and geldings for driver Bob McClure.
Leading gate-to-wire from post eight, he picked up his 10th seasonal win in 16 starts with a 1:52.4 performance. P L Spencer fired off the gate, out-sprinting Galen Erso (Doug McNair) to his inside to reach the pylons before the quarter in :27.2, then set the tempo with fractions of :57.2 and 1:26. Lmc Wagon Wheel, steered by Tyler Borth, pulled from fifth on the backside and advanced to challenge the leader. The result, however, was never in doubt for the Steve Bossence-trained P L Spencer, who dashed away from the field on the strength of a :26.4 final panel and handily trotted to the wire 2-1/2 lengths in front. Galen Erso finished for second while Day (Roy) got past Lmc Wagon Wheel for third.
“This colt, coming in, he was just so sharp," said McClure, who clinched his second Lampman Cup as the top driver OSS program. "I said to Steve [Bossence], ‘I’ve never seen a transition in colt's mental maturity, in a season like this guy.’ After his first start, he wasn’t that nice to drive – he was hot and he towed you around and put you in some spots where you didn’t want to be. But as the year progressed he’s just become an absolute pro and one that I’m actually really looking forward to racing as an open horse.”
The Resolve-P L Indyanaca gelding is owned by the partnership of Bossence of London, Richard Thompson of London, Derek Reid of Etobicoke, Ont., and E C S Racing LLC of Rockford, Mich. Bred by Prince Lee Acres, the trotter was a winner in one of four starts as a freshman, but P L Spencer has returned at three to produce a sensational sophomore campaign. Over 16 attempts this year, the gelding is 10-4-0. Saturday’s victory was his fourth straight, and it pushed his lifetime earnings to $537,681 and his record to 11-for-20.
“Last year, we had to quit with him,” Bossence said. “He had a quarter crack, and it was bothering him, so I finally just pulled the plug and we sent him to Kentucky. He came back and he was always kind of racey, on his toes a bit, but [McClure] made a horse out of him. He said, ‘I’m going to make a horse out of you,’ and he did. Without [McClure], we probably wouldn’t be standing here.
"He really did a good job. He does that… if you watch him close with these young horses, he’s like watching Steve Condren from back in my day.”
Bossence revealed after the Super Final win that P L Spencer had been sold, only to have the deal nixed this week.
“This guy was sold this week for after the race," he said. "They didn’t like the way his x-rays looked, so they passed on him, and guess what: he’s ours for next year now.”
Crack Shot Repeats In Super Finals
Crack Shot won the Super Final for three-year-old pacing colts and geldings in dominating fashion to repeat as an Ontario champion, exploding away in the stretch to post a 5-1/2-length triumph in a career-best 1:48.2.
Starting from post five in the field of 10, Crack Shot sat third in the early going as 99-1 shot Control Rocks (Tyler Borth) led the field through a :26.1 opening quarter and a :55.1 half. Doug McNair had Crack Shot out and rolling before the 1:22.2 three-quarters, and the colt bolted to the front and pulled away to complete the victory. Fifth And Five (Jody Jamieson) was best of the rest, with Boxer Seelster (Trevor Henry) closing for third.
“I didn’t know how the race was going to shape up,” McNair told Woodbine broadcaster John Rallis. “There were a couple on the outside that I thought might take a shot getting out of there, but they were speeding pretty good up front. I thought I had the best horse. He's been getting better and better towards the end of the year, so I just didn’t want to get him in any trouble.”
Sent off as the 1-2 favourite, Crack Shot paid $3.10 for the win.
Last year, Crack Shot became the first horse in history to win both the Grassroots Final and the Gold Super Final. This season, the son of Bettors Delight-Beautyonthebeach joined a select group of Ontario stars that have won Super Finals in back-to-back years. The Gregg McNair trainee won a pair of Gold preliminary legs this year and finished a close second in two others.
Gregg McNair, who collected his seventh Johnston Cup as the top trainer in the OSS program, said it’s been a challenge to keep Crack Shot fit this year.
“He had some problems on his left side, and we were working on the wrong thing to start with, then we just learned what it was towards the end of the year,” he said. “He had a knee bothering him a bit, and once we got doing the maintenance work on that, it sure helped him a lot.”
Crack Shot improved to 6-4-1 in 14 starts on the year and 11-5-1 in 22 lifetime outings. The colt has a lifetime bankroll of $734,160. Gregg McNair of Guelph, Ont. owns Crack Shot with London Knights coach and former NHLer Dale Hunter of London, Ont., Frank Brundle of East Garafraxa, Ont., and George Kerr of Gowanstown, Ont.
Brundle said he was thrilled with the win after the OSS final double last year.
“We did it again,” he said. “I was very happy with how he progressed and how well he’s doing.”
Grit N Grace, Calicojack Hanover Feature On Undercard
Grit N Grace made two moves to victory to stop Absolution’s win streak at two in the $40,000 Fillies and Mares Open 2 Pace.
After leaving strongly for Jody Jamieson and leading past the quarter in :26.4, Grit N Grace gave up command to Talk Curdy To Me (Roy), who hit the half in :56.1 and cruised through three-quarters in 1:24. Grit N Grace then reemerged from the pocket at the top of the lane and battled past Talk Curdy To Me to prevail in 1:50.1. Absolution (Bob McClure), who had won two straight Opens, flew home in :25.1 but was too far back, missing by a length in second over Talk Curdy To Me.
Grit N Grace, a daughter of Im The Pied Piger-Dragonart, won for the 18th time in 44 lifetime appearances for owner-breeder Lorraine Rey of St. Claude, Man. The four-year-old, trained by Mike Kwietniowski, has now earned $305,185. In 28 starts this year, she has won 11 times. She paid $6 to win.
Calicojack Hanover took the twin sub-feature, the $40,000 Open 2 Pace, in an authoritative front-stepping score. Roy settled the stallion in behind two longshots early, biding his time past a :26.2 first split before ordering his charge on a backstretch brush to seize command nearing the half in :55.4. Calicojack Hanover rattled off three-quarters in 1:23.2 and was never threatened down the lane, soaring away to win by 2-1/4 lengths in 1:49.2. Dublin Dasher (Travis Cullen) held second over Remember The Alamo (Borth).
Calicojack Hanover, trained by Luc Blais for Determination of Montreal, Que., tallied his 11th lifetime victory in 35 starts while boosting his earnings to $462,361. The four-year-old son of Captaintreacherous-Charisma Hanover won the Charles Juravinski Memorial Cup earlier this season and is six-for-15 overall in 2025. The win price was $2.80.
To view Saturday's harness racing results, click the following link: Saturday Results - Woodbine Mohawk Park.
(Ontario Racing & Standardbred Canada; photos clockwise from top left of Monalishi, Chantilly, P L Spencer, and Crack Shot)