The final card of 2016 took place at Mohawk Racetrack on Monday night with second leg Autumn Series action for sophomore fillies highlighting the docket.
A pair of $18,000 divisions for trotters was slated early in the 11-race card and both divisions featured double-digit upsets.
In the first division, 12-1 outsider Trumpets served notice with a tripped-out lifetime best 1:55.4 score. Trevor Henry engineered the winning drive behind Trumpets for the three-quarter length win over Majestic Presence (Dagfin Henriksen)
Joe Pereira trains Trumpets (Holiday Road - Ilazue) for owners The Merks Stable of New York, N.Y. The sophomore notched her third win of the campaign.
The second division featured an even bigger upset, courtesy the same driver. Henry returned to the winner's circle with 19-1 shot Majestic Mistress, who mowed down her rivals in the stretch for a 1:56.2 lifetime best victory.
Dave Holliday trains Majestic Mistress (Majestic Son - C H Meadow Miss) for owner/breeder Ronald Corbett of St. Jacobs, Ont. The filly shaved nearly two seconds off her previous mark of 1:58.1 courtesy her only other lifetime win this past June.
Shifting to the pacing side, Henry nearly pulled off his third series win of the night with Dewar N Soda but was nosed out by favoured Tempus Seelster. Jack Moiseyev had Henry and Tempus Seelster on his back heading into the stretch and that real estate proved vital in hitting the wire first in 1:53.1.
Holland Racing Stable of Niagara-On-The-Lake, Ont. owns and Rick Zeron trains Tempus Seelster (Big Jim - The Patriot), now a seven-time winner with nearly $60,000 in purses.
The final division of the Autumn Series gave another photo op to an off-the-pace closer as Never In Doubt (Jody Jamieson) picked off favoured Lady Marina (Moiseyev) in deep stretch for the win in an identical 1:53.1 time as the other division.
Rene Allard trains and co-owns Never Any Doubt (Camluck - Whatswrongwiththat) with Ameer Najor of West Bloomfield, Mich. Since a late August purchase, Never Any Doubt has two wins in seven starts for her current connections.
The $30,000E finals of the Autumn Series will take place on Friday, November 18 at Woodbine Racetrack.
To view the results from Monday's card at Mohawk, click the following link: Monday Results - Mohawk Racetrack.
If tonight was the final
If tonight was the final night of the meet why wasnt the Jackpot Hi5 a mandatory payout? I thought it was always paid out at the end of the meet