After winning last Monday's $50,000 Open Trot at Woodbine Racetrack from the pocket, veteran trotter Scorpion Moon went wire-to-wire to score this time around with Mark MacDonald in the bike
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With Mapleleaf Buddy (Jody Jamieson) making an early break from the rail, Monday’s feature race saw five starters line up in single file fashion as MacDonald sent Scorpion Moon to the lead from Post 5. The nine-year-old son of Armbro Scorpion-Angies Nugget fired off a :26.3 opener and led the way to the half in :56.1 and three-quarters mark in 1:25.3 before facing a late challenge from a pocket-pulling Merited Victory (Rick Zeron). Scorpion Moon, however, managed to reach the wire just in time to score in 1:54.2 while Merited Victory took second place, just a neck behind. Favourite Armbro Chronicle (Mike Saftic) finish third.
Scorpion Moon returned $5.80 to win as the 9-5 second choice.
“There wasn’t a lot of gate speed in there tonight,” said Mark MacDonald in an post-race interview with Woodbine’s Chad Rozema. “I didn’t think anyone would challenge him off the way he raced last week. Sometimes he won’t relax and he’s much better out of a two-hole or three-hole trip, but tonight on the front he got away on them and no one could catch him so he raced well.
“I think it was a pretty big half [:56.1],” he continued. “I’m just surprised he got out quick and got over because the track is heavy and I think its going to get slower as the night goes on.”
The win was Scorpion Moon’s second in a row and third of the year in five tries for trainer Tracy Brainard, who shares ownership with Andrew Herzog of Monticello, New York. The bay gelding’s 63rd lifetime win bumped his earnings to $68,500 in 2010 and $680,370 lifetime.
Making his 2010 debut in the Open was Please Poppy, who won the 2009 Glorys Comet Trotting Series in line to MacDonald. The career winner of $530,858 finished fifth tonight with trainer Per Henriksen in the sulky.
“Luckily for me, Per made it easy for me," said MacDonald. "He told me he would drive him himself and see how he was so he made it really easy for me, but that’s going to be a tough choice [down the road] because they are both really nice horses."
To view Monday's results, click here.