Two of Canadian harness racing's most popular pacing mares will fittingly make their final career starts against each this Saturday, Dec. 21 at Woodbine Mohawk Park.
Prohibition Legal and Silver Label, the Nick Gallucci-trained and Millar Farms-owned dynamic duo, will each conclude their racing careers this weekend and begin a second career as broodmares.
A homebred daughter of Big Jim - Catch A Wish, Prohibition Legal boasts a career summary of 13-12-4 in 39 starts with a mark of 1:50 taken as a four-year-old in 2023. With her win in last week's Preferred Pace, Prohibition Legal lifted her lifetime earnings to $1,114,305.
The biggest career victory of Prohibition Legal came during her two-year-old season, when she capped an O'Brien Award winning campaign in 2021 with a victory in the Ontario Sires Stakes Super Final.
A model of consistency over her four seasons of racing, Silver Label sports a summary of 25-17-6 in 60 career appearances with more than $1.66 million in earnings and a mark of 1:47.3. The daughter of Bettors Delight - Silver Gem is the fastest Canadian-sired female pacer by virtue of that mile in the 2023 Lady Liberty final at The Meadowlands.
The 2022 O'Brien Award winner as Canada's Three-Year-Old Pacing Filly of the Year, Silver Label prevailed in her OSS Super Final that season and then knocked off Grand Circuit rivals in the Perfect Sting and Lady Liberty along with eight Fillies & Mares Preferred tallies over the past two seasons. A cheque on Saturday night would edge Silver Label past the $300,000 mark in seasonal earnings for each of her four seasons of racing.
But the connections have decided to transition those popular performers into broodmares that can hopefully pass on some of those positive attributes to their offspring.
"They've never really raced in anything other than a stakes race. It's pretty remarkable," trainer Nick Gallucci told Trot Insider. "But if they don't look like they were going to be top tier Grand Circuit horses, we just thought it was more appropriate for them, and their legacy, to try to get a foal out of them."
"I think, too, it's a matter of they've been racing hard and at a top level since they were two, and they accomplished so much. Now they're getting older," added breeder and owner George Millar. "When they've been that good to us, I just don't want to see them go through the stress anymore because there's just so much a horse can do. So they can go and have a good career as broodmares and I look forward to seeing their foals."
According to Millar, Prohibition Legal will be bred to Sweet Lou while Silver Label has a date in the breeding shed with Always B Miki.
"The first year we'll breed them in Kentucky, make sure they're Kentucky eligible," noted Gallucci. "Probably after that, we'll stick to Ontario."
Looking back on their careers as they head into Saturday's swan song, Millar couldn't pick just one race that stood out as a personal favourite for either Prohibition Legal or Silver Label.
"There were so many good races. It's difficult to say which one you enjoy the most," said Millar. "It's funny, Nick loves Silver Label. I love Prohibition Legal. His wife [Karoline] loves Prohibition Legal. So I don't even know who to root for when they're racing."
Gallucci pointed to a pair of 'super' performances as the ones that resonate most.
"I'd probably just go back to the Super Finals for each one, right? For Silver Label, obviously the Lady Liberty was kind of a game changer, and the Perfect Sting. But the Super Final with her at three, I think she just kind of stamped herself, you know, as the superior filly at that point. And Prohibition Legal, as a two-year-old the way they finished the year...just both finishing first and second in the Super Finals at two and three, that was really special."
Prohibition Legal (PP4, Louis-Philippe Roy, 6-5) and Silver Label (PP1, James MacDonald, 7-5) face four rivals in the $36,000 Fillies & Mares Preferred Pace on Saturday, Dec. 21 at Woodbine Mohawk Park. That race is the second race of the evening, with an approximate 7:42 p.m. post time.
To view the entries for Saturday's card of harness racing at Woodbine Mohawk Park, click the following link: Saturday Entries - Woodbine Mohawk Park.
(Standardbred Canada)