Grit N Grace blasted to the front in the third quarter and left the field behind, soaring to a 4-3/4-length score in the $40,000 Fillies and Mares Open Pace at Woodbine Mohawk Park on Saturday, Dec. 20.
Jody Jamieson found the mare a spot in fifth from post 10 as an early break by Style For A Mile (Doug McNair) up front scattered the leading group on the first turn. With several horses left wide, there was a succession of lead changes as Carrera Sunset N (Louis-Philippe Roy) took over from Avyanna (Tyler Borth) after the quarter in :27.4 and So Much More (James MacDonald) reached the engine at the half in :56.4.
Jamieson lit the fuse of Grit N Grace at the halfway mark, and the mare exploded past her foes on the final turn, racing three-lengths clear at three-quarters in 1:24.3. She was unthreatened down the stretch and finished the mile under wraps in 1:53, with So Much More battling on for second. Angostura Hanover (Trevor Henry) surged to dead-heat with Avyanna for third.
Grit N Grace has reigned over Mohawk’s top pacing mares for three straight weeks, bolstering her seasonal record to 15 wins in 36 starts for trainer Mike Kwietniowski. The four-year-old Im The Pied Piper-Dragonart mare has won 22 times and earned $409,985 in 52 career outings for owner/breeder Lorraine Rey of St. Claude, Man. She paid $5.40 to win.
Trainer Carm Auciello tripled on the 12-race program. The winners from his barn were Larceny ($13.30), who rallied from a locked-in seventh at the eighth pole for Roy, Hf Pans Shadow ($5.60), who held on by a nose after reaching the front in the stretch for McNair, and Moving On Over ($3.50), whom MacDonald steered to a half-length victory off cover. Auciello now has 98 wins this year in 900 starts.
To view Saturday’s harness racing results, click the following link: Saturday Results - Woodbine Mohawk Park.
(Standardbred Canada)