While Watkins was the winner of Monday night's feature Preferred Trot at Woodbine Racetrack, the hottest hands and first star honours of the night would likely go to driver Randy Waples.
In his first four drives on the card, Waples could not be beat. He swept the early daily double aboard favoured Gavins Designer and longshot Riding With P. His third win came with regally-bred three-year-old Rockin Wizard, who made his pari-mutuel debut a winning one for trainer Bob McIntosh and breeder-owner Lothlorien in a time of 1:56.1.
Waples then connected with favoured trotter Bax Of Life in Race 6 before completing the five-bagger in Race 9 aboard Stonebridge Adam.
Coming off his 16th straight season of winning more than $2 million in purses, Randy Waples now boasts lifetime totals of 5,812 wins and nearly $110 million in purse earnings.
One race that Waples couldn't win - his drive, Zeus Lightning, was scratched - was the $34,000 Preferred Trot. With favoured Frenchfrysnvinegar (Jody Jamieson) fron-stepping the field as expected, Doug McNair sat the pocket with Watkins through fractions of :26.4, :56.4 and 1:27.1.
As Frenchfrysnvinegar started to feel the pressure from first-over challenger E W Fisher (Rick Zeron) in the stretch, McNair was able to stick-handle Watkins inside the pacesetter and find room for a late rally. That move came just in time as Watkins got up in the final stride to nip E W Fisher by a nose over E W Fisher and Lexis D J (Scott Zeron), who finished in a dead heat for third.
The win for Watkins, trained by Richard Moreau for Matthew McManus of Burlington, Ont., is his second on the season in nine tries and boosts his seasonal bankroll to $73,080 - already surpassing what the six-year-old son of Striking Sahbra-Sarong Hall made in all of 2012.
To view the full results for Monday night's card of harness racing at Woodbine Racetrack, click the following link: Monday Results - Woodbine Racetrack.