Celebrity Hercules picked a perfect time to notch his first win of the season as he scored a mild upset in Sunday’s $60,000 Don Mills Trotting Series final
for four-year-olds at Woodbine Racetrack.
With Jason Brewer in the driver’s seat, the gelded son of Kadabra - Bravura Hanover got away eighth in the :27 second first quarter which was put up by Lexis Amigo. The tempo-setter saw pressure in the second quarter from Tall Cotton who was just about to clear the lead when he made a costly break in stride.
Lexis Amigo re-inherited the lead and took the field past the half in a :56.1. At that point, V Squared, who had won in both preliminary legs, made a first-over move for driver Scott Zeron but was unable to advance and began to back away in the third quarter.
That allowed Lexis Amigo to get some separation on his rivals at three-quarters in 1:25.3 while the horses in the backfield were forced three wide around the stalled cover.
In the stretch, Lexis Amigo began to feel the strain of the early fractions and it was Celebrity Hercules closing widest of all in the five path to sweep past for the win. Sir Winston and Play Fair closed well to finish second and third respectively with Lexis Amigo settling for fourth. The winner returned $11.00.
It was just the fourth career win for Celebrity Hercules who is trained by John Drennan for the DDT Stable of Burlington. The victory lifted his career earnings to just over $133,000.
(WEG)