Seventeen trotters found themselves split into a set of $18,000 divisions of the General Brock Series during Monday’s 10-race card at Woodbine Racetrack, and the second leg of the event was dominated by favourites.
Cash For Gold, who was sent off as the 6/5 choice in the opening division, took charge in the backstretch and cruised to a career-best performance for trainer/driver Michiel Vanderkemp.
Cash For Gold came away third in the early going while Bags For All front-stepped the trotters to the quarter pole in :28. Cash For Gold brushed to the top in the backstretch and stole away with marshmallowy soft middle fractions of :58 and 1:28.1. The final quarter was big, however, as Cash For Gold turned on the afterburners and stormed home in :28 to win by a pair of lengths over Bags For All in 1:56.1. Third prize was earned by Stuarts Dynasty.
It was the first win of the season – and the fourth to date – for the four-year-old son of Cash Hall-Microwave Muscles. Sonja Booth of Robbinsville, New Jersey owns the gelding who bumped his overall bankroll to $57,940 with the win.
Bourbon Bay, who pulled off an 11-1 upset in last week’s opening leg of the General Brock Series, showed no mercy to the foes he faced in Monday’s second-leg assignment.
Sent off as the 1/2 favourite, the Mike Sinclair trainee muscled his way to the lead in the backstretch after Severus Hanover chopped out the opening panel in :26.4. Mike Saftic pointed Bourbon Bay to the front in the second quarter, and once they cleared to the front the tandem led the group through middle fractions of :56.2 and 1:25.3 before cruising home in a :29-second clip to win by 4-1/2 lengths over Illseeuincourt. Taking home third prize was Tellmehowyoulikeit.
The four-year-old son of Sand Vic-America Alive races under lease to John Cummings, Jr. of Nichols, New York. The gelding, who is an eight-time winner, is now 3-for-5 this season. The $9,000 payday lifted his lifetime cash stash to $50,501.
Multiple winning tickets on Monday’s Jackpot Hi 5 wager at Woodbine Racetrack forced a carryover of $309,509.09 into Thursday evening’s tenth race at the Rexdale, Ontario oval.
American Island got up in the closing strides to post the win as the 4/5 favourite in Monday evening’s finale, with Verbalize (10-1), Terror Of The Nite (7-1), Windsun Cheyenne (5-1) and Mervs True Legacy (50-1) rounding out the top finishers. The winning combination of numbers 2-9-5-8-10 kicked back $1,526.15 to winning ticket holders for a $1-based wager.
For a free, printable program page for Thursday's card of racing, courtesy of TrackIT, click here.
To view results for Monday's card of harness racing, click the following link: Monday Results – Woodbine Racetrack.