You never forget your first, so it stands to reason that Feb. 8, 2025 will be a day Blake MacIntosh will cherish for years to come.
Monalishi earned Two-Year-Old Trotting Filly of the Year honours at the 2024 O'Brien Awards this past Saturday, providing MacIntosh with his first O'Brien Award.
"It's pretty nice. We've been close a couple of times but to get it done is a great thing."
Co-owned by trainer MacIntosh with Tim Klemencic of Trenton, Ont., Monalishi achieved six wins from 10 starts and $562,811 in earnings. The daughter of Green Manalishi S-Pretty Phylly G won a division of the Champlain Stakes and boasts a near-perfect record in the Ontario Sires Stakes program, with four wins and one second from five starts. Her biggest victory of the season was in the $390,000 Peaceful Way Stakes at Woodbine Mohawk Park, where she took her lifetime mark of 1:52.2, making her Canada's fastest two-year-old trotter in 2024. The filly also ranks highly among the freshmen MacIntosh has developed over his successful career, the highlight of a career year for the St. George, Ont.-based horseman.
"She's right up there. We'll probably sit back and try to figure that out after she's done racing but at this point she's pretty close to the best two-year-old I've trained. We've been very fortunate and had a lot of good horse over the years, let's just hope she has a great three-year-old year and we can say she's the best one I've ever had."
On the day that Monalishi is set to return to training, MacIntosh discusses the impact of 2024 Outstanding Groom Award winner Mike Rivet on his award winner, explains why Monalishi will mostly campaign in Ontario in 2025, and provides an update on his stable star in this interview with SC's Jeff Porchak. This feature is the fourth in a series of interviews sponsored by Horse Racing Alberta.
(Standardbred Canada; photos courtesy New Image Media)