Amigo Volo set a torrid tempo in the two-year-old trotting colt division and held his ground for a Breeders Crown victory on Friday evening at Woodbine Mohawk Park.
With Dexter Dunn in the sulky for trainer Richard 'Nifty' Norman, Amigo Volo established the lead from post four, out-trotting a trio of outside leavers, and sprinting record first-half fractions of :26.4 and :55.3.
He continued to expand his lead on the way to three-quarters in 1:24 and was up by as much as 6-1/2 lengths at the top of the lane before cruising home untouched for the 1:54.3 victory. Rome Pays Off (Mattias Melander) closed off cover to finish second, 4-1/4 lengths behind, while the winner's stablemate, Chestnut Hill (Brian Sears), came from last to show.
Real Cool Sam (David Miller), the even-money favourite who was undefeated in nine previous starts and received a bye to the final, moved first-up on the backstretch and finished fourth, while Synergy (Yannick Gingras), the elimination upsetter, rounded out the top five finish order.
"It feels pretty awesome," said New Zealand native Dunn, who relocated to North America last year and has excelled in both the Northern and Southern hemispheres, adding a Breeders Crown triumph to his list of accomplishments tonight. "Nifty's been great to me from day one when I got over here last year and he's been a massive supporter of mine so to pay him back, it's great, and the Pinskes are such a great family so it's pretty awesome."
"As everyone can see, he's a rare talent for a guy his age to be doing what he's doing," said Norman of his partnership with Dunn. "He's taken over here in a way, I mean, he's right top three or four drivers in his first season, that's amazing. He's a great talent, he's a great driver and a great guy."
The elimination favourite last week, Amigo Volo just qualified for the championship by earning the last spot after a troubled seventh-place finish. He was the 5-2 second choice tonight and returned $7.10 to win.
The Father Patrick-Margarita Momma gelding has now won half of his 10 starts, including a Grand Circuit double at Lexington's The Red Mile. The lion's share of the $786,000 Breeders Crown purse lifted his bankroll over the $600,000 mark for owners Pinske Stables of Plato, Minnesota and David J. Miller of Lake Mary, Florida.
"I actually turned the drive down on him on the PA Sires final [where he finished second to Real Cool Sam] -- that was a bad choice -- and then I got the drive on him in Lexington and he put on a couple of great displays," said Dunn. "He made a bad break here last week and just slipped into the final. I talked to Nifty and we changed some gear on him.
"Once he got out of the gate so good I thought I'm not going to take any chances... We were pretty quick down to the half and around the last turn when I could sort of feel the horses dropping off me a little bit, I had a look around and I thought I'm going to take my shot. I was a long way up the straight and he was pretty tired at the end, but he got his break and it was a great effort."
Watching the race unfold, Norman was confident in his trainee when he took off.
"He did go big fractions in the PA final and got beat by a better horse on the day, but today it held up," said the four-time Breeders Crown-winning conditioner. "They were kind of scary fractions, but he did a good job to hang on."