A three-win Saturday night at the office for trainer Ben Baillargeon included a strong performance from HP Napoleon in the $36,000 Preferred Handicap at Woodbine Mohawk Park.
Points North (Jonathan Drury) fronted the competitive group of nine older pacers through fractions of :26.3, :55 and 1:22.4. Sylvain Filion had HP Napoleon's nose on the helmet of Jody Jamieson, driver of favoured Rockme Rollme, from just past the opening quarter and followed that pacer's cover into a third over position heading for the final turn. Once Jamieson tipped three-wide around Matticulous GB (James MacDonald) at the head of the lane, Filion followed and then tipped off that helmet for open sailing. With the plugs pulled, HP Napoleon sprinted by his rivals to best Rockme Rollme by three parts of a length in 1:50.3. Points North stayed for third.
The Preferred score is the first for HP Napoleon (Big Jim - Amenable Hanover) a four-year-old homebred owned by Claude Hamel of Ayer's Cliff, Que. who started the year in non-winners company at Mohawk. He picked up his 11th lifetime win and lifted his career earnings to $176,000.
Baillargeon closed the night with a win thanks to the effort of Traceur Hanover in Race 12, where the 9-11-3-1-2 combination in the Jackpot Hi-5 on a night with a mandatory payout produced a $2,008.38 result on a 20-cent ticket.
To view the results for Saturday's card of harness racing at Mohawk, click the following link: Saturday Results - Woodbine Mohawk Park.
This race was featured on the undercard of 2020 Ontario Sires Stakes Super Finals Night. Check out the rest of the recaps from the Super Finals in the OSS Super Final News Centre.