Top-ranked two-year-old pacing colt Sportswriter heads into the $720,680 Breeders Crown with a seven race win streak after a hard-fought win in a $20,000 Two-Year-Old Open on Sunday night
at Woodbine Racetrack.
Seven freshman colts contested what was for some a Breeders Crown prep race, and the field was reduced from eight with the scratch of Crown entrant Kyle Major. Driver Mark MacDonald summoned 2-5 Sportswriter to the lead from Post 7 and he made it, on top of the field by two lengths by the quarter-mile marker in :27.2. Fellow Crown entrants Malicious (David Miller) and World Of Rocknroll (Rick Zeron) followed in through splits of :56.4 and 1:26.3, and then the race was on.
MacDonald asked Sportswriter for another gear and he found it, but so did Malicious and World Of Rocknroll as those colts came out off the rail and aimed for the upset in deep stretch. A :26.4 final quarter was enough to get the world record holder home for the victory by a half-length over Malicious in 1:53.2 with World Of Rocknroll just back in third.
"He was good considering he hadn’t raced in a month. It just turned into a final quarter sprint," said driver Mark MacDonald after the win. "Malicious got to my saddle pad but I was confident my colt would hold on. The track was a little tiring tonight so a last quarter in :26.4 was very good.
"I’d hate to have a guy sit on my back and go by me late in a prep race to end the streak. Malicious is a good colt and he’s never really gotten a good tow like that, so coming out of the turn I made sure I kept my colt’s mind on business because I knew Malicious would be coming."
Trained by Casie Coleman, Sportswriter (Artsplace - Precious Beauty) is now unbeaten in seven outings on the season and the victory lifts his rookie bankroll to $695,196 for the West Wins Stables (Coleman, Zoltan Kovacs and Ross Warriner) and partner Steve Calhoun.
On Saturday, October 24, Sportswriter looks to run his unbeaten streak to eight leaving from Post 2 and competing against 10 of harness racing's best freshman in one of eight Breeders Crown finals.
For results from Sunday's card, click here.