With horse racing in Canada currently on hiatus, some Ontario horsepeople have ventured south of the border and have had some luck in recent weeks.
Driver Brett MacDonald, a regular at The Raceway at the Western Fair District, has been doing it and doing it well at Northfield Park – coming off a huge Mares Open Pace victory with Bettor Trix N for New Jersey’s Curtin Anz Stable and trainer Patrick Shepherd. She literally ran the competition off their feet on Saturday night (Feb. 6) as a pair of favourites made breaks going to the quarter mile — just as she made the front. She controlled fractions of :26.4, :56.1 and 1:24.3 and used a :29 final frame to win easily in 1:53.3. Bettor Trix N had been a regular upper-class mare on the Ontario circuit for trainer J.R. Plante prior to shipping south in the new year.
Familiar Raceway horses Bettors Western, Whatarealbadgirl, Walter Mitty and Noahs Play all won in recent weeks at Northfield, as well, for MacDonald and Shepherd. Shepherd recruited leading driver Aaron Merriman to pilot Sir Pugsley, Down On My Luck and Wild Country to victory lane through the month of January over the quick Cleveland, Ohio, half-mile track.
Patrick Shepherd registered a training double on the Monday (Feb. 8) Northfield card. Littlebitaswagger won a $4,200 conditioned pace in 1:56.1 with leading driver Aaron Merriman, and Ontario mainstay Power And Grace delivered a dominant a 7-3/4-length, 1:55.1 score with MacDonald aboard in a $6,500 conditioned trot. Down On My Luck (Merriman) rounded out Shepherd's trio of Monday starters with a fifth-place finish in a $6,500 conditioned pace.
Ontario trainer Taylor Fritz teamed up with MacDonald on two starters Monday, but outside post positions took their toll on both of them. Machtu N, a starter in the 2016 edition of the Molson Pace, passed tired horses late to finish sixth in a $4,200 conditioned pace, and Brocks Fortune faded to last after pressing uncovered out of post 7 to force a :55.3 half in a $5,000 conditioned pace.
Mitchell Tierney trainee Franks Angel (Chris Lems) recorded a third-place finish behind former New York Sire Stakes standout Smalltownthrowdown in a $10,400 upper-level trot, and Teesha Symes trainee Prestige Seelster (MacDonald) rounded out the evening's complement of London-based starters with an eighth-place finish in a $9,500 optional claiming pace.
(with files from The Raceway at the Western Fair District)