Awesome Hill was a repeat winner in the Niagara Pacing Series while newcomer Foxy Fiji put an end to Just Daisy's series streak on Friday night (Dec. 17) at Woodbine Mohawk Park.
The series, which continued on Friday with two $18,000 second leg divisions, is for three-year-old pacing fillies that are non-winners of $60,000 lifetime as of October 31.
First round winner Awesome Hill delivered as the 3-5 favourite in the second leg, knocking a full second off her lifetime mark.
Driver Doug McNair sent Awesome Hill from third to first following a :28.1 first quarter and cruised through middle fractions of :57 and 1:25.1 before opening up an insurmountable lead on her foes. The Chantal Mitchell trainee had a 1-3/4-length winning margin at the end of her 1:53.1 career-best mile, followed by the late-closing Racing Forthe Mark (Louis-Philippe Roy) and Bottomoftheninth (James MacDonald). Awesome Hill paid $3.40 to win.
Owned and bred by Tom Hill, the Sunshine Beach-Taxi Fare Hanover filly finished out of the money in her first three starts as a rookie, but has put together a sophomore record reading 5-2-2 from nine starts this year to earn $58,814.
Shipping in from Hoosier Park for trainer/owner Britney Dillon, Niagara newcomer Foxy Fiji made a late dash from the pocket to upset heavy favourite Just Daisy in a career-best clocking of 1:52.2.
Driven by Louis-Philippe Roy, Foxy Fiji got the first call leaving from post five then got a perfect two-hole trip when the 2-5 bettors' choice swept from third to first after a :27 opening quarter. In search of her third straight win after taking the Harvest Series final and a Niagara division last week, Just Daisy (Chris Christoforou) carved out middle splits of :56.2 and 1:24.3 while steering clear of her challengers until Foxy Fiji got room in the stretch and made a late run at her as the wire approached to steal the glory. Foxy Fiji paid $13.10 for the mild 5-1 upset. Just Daisy finished one length behind in second while State Of Mind (Trevor Henry) rallied from the backfield to show.
Unraced as a two-year-old, the Jk Endofanera-Pacific Sister K filly improved her career record to 3-3-3 from 28 starts while bumping her bankroll to $40,970.
Outside of the series, driver Sylvain Filion dominated the action. Filion took five of Friday's 11 races, beginning with Twin B Sunkissed ($7.30), who was back in action for the first time since winning the SBOA Stakes last month for trainer Richard Moreau. Filion teamed up with Moreau for another victory later on the card with Clodam Bayama ($4.70) and also made trips to the winner's circle with the Jean Tourigny-trained Jimbelina ($3.10) and Bestseller Hanover ($13.40) for the Nick Gallucci stable before closing out the card with Matthew Panos trainee Settn A Precedent ($2.50), who was a dead-heat winner with Mary Kat and four-time Friday winner James MacDonald.
To view Friday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Friday Results - Woodbine Mohawk Park.