Three-year-old pacing filly Western Silk rallied off second over cover to earn her third Ontario Sires Stakes Gold trophy of the season for driver Mark MacDonald and trainer Casie Coleman on Friday night at Woodbine Racetrack
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Bay Girl (Phil Hudon) exploded off the gate from the outside Post 10 in the fillies' last $130,000 Gold Final of the season and hit the opening quarter in :26-seconds. As she led the way down the backstretch to the half in :55, Preppy Party Girl (Jody Jamieson) looked to the outside from third and advanced first over past three-quarters in 1:22.2 with heavy favourite Western Silk and Mark MacDonald following her cover.
Preppy Party Girl wore down the pacesetter in the stretch, but Western Silk came charging up on the outside to take over in the final strides for the 1:50.3 triumph. Preppy Party Girl finished just a neck behind in second with Grassroots champion Putnams MacKenzie (Randy Waples) third. Bay Girl and pocket-sitter Tiz To Dream (Doug McNair) completed the cashers.
“Huge mile -- that’s about a [1]:48 mile in the summertime,” noted MacDonald after the victory. “It’s really cold and that’s a cold wind in her face turning for home.
“I was really hoping I would be able to follow some live cover and I got lucky where I got in behind Jody there and got to draft off of him until about halfway down the stretch so it worked out really good.
“She just always finds a way to win," continued MacDonald. "She gives you that last little bit and every time it’s been close this year she’s always dug in for me late. You never know, that’s a good filly Jody’s got too and his filly is really fresh but like I say she [Western Silk] always just seems to dig in during that last little bit and be able to stick her nose out."
Western Silk paid $2.70 to win as the 1-5 favourite. The Western Terror-Extemporaneous filly boasts 10 wins in 14 starts on her 2010 record including victories in two other Gold Finals, the Fan Hanover, S.B.O.A. Stakes and Jugette. The lion’s share of the purse pushed her earnings to $951,112 for this year and $1.27 million lifetime for the Casie Coleman Stables of Cambridge, Ont. and Tom Hill of Lancashire, Great Britain.
The OSS Gold season will wrap up next Saturday night at Woodbine with the top contenders facing off on Super Final Night.
Earlier on the card, older pacing mares took to the track for the $38,000 Fillies & Mares Open. Forest City Pace runner-up Arts Diva took control of the field at the half and cruised to a three-length victory.
Leaving from Post 3, Meredith Maguire N (Luc Ouellette) led the six-horse field to the opening quarter of :26.3 before three-year-old filly Bestofbothworlds (Rick Zeron) pulled the pocket and took over with 4-5 favourite Arts Diva and driver Paul MacDonell following.
Arts Diva struck the front at the :54.3 half-mile marker and took the field to three-quarters in 1:22.2 with Breeders Crown runner-up Voelz Hanover (Mario Baillargeon) moving underway from the backfield.
Voelz Hanover applied mild pressure to the leader as they moved into the stretch but Arts Diva kicked away for the victory and equaled her season’s mark of 1:50.4 in the process. Voelz Hanover stayed for second with Bestofbothworlds rounding out the top three.
Arts Diva paid $3.80 to win. The five-year-old Art Major-Caliterra mare now sports a record reading 3-7-2 in 19 starts this year with earnings totaling $173,820. Ken Sucee trains for Brian Legge of North York and Dr. David Legge of Ajax, Ont., who purchased the career winner of $665,195 for $20,000 at the Harrisburg Sale back in 2006.
To view Friday’s results, click here.