Mohawk Warrior rallied home off the cover of stablemate Rafa to win the $20,000 opening leg of the WEGZ Series for trainer Richard Moreau on Saturday night (March 5) at Woodbine Racetrack.
Jody Jamieson drove the son of Rocknroll Hanover for owner Brad Grant in the series for four-year-old pacers that were non-winners of $100,000 lifetime as of Oct. 31, 2015.
Cajon Lightning (Trevor Henry), another winter series regular from the Moreau stable, established the early lead with the inside post advantage while last weekend's Ontario Boys upset winner Legion Of Boom (Doug McNair) settled into the pocket through a :26.3 first quarter.
After a brief tuck into fourth around the first turn, outside leaver Shades Of Bay (Phil Hudon) resumed his quest to the front end and swept to the top by the :55.3 half-mile mark. That's when Rafa (Sylvain Filion) commenced his first over bid from mid-pack with Mohawk Warrior and Jamieson following his cover.
Snowshoe Series champion Shades Of Bay continued to lead the way past three-quarters in 1:24 with the pressure mounting from Rafa. Those two battled head-to-head in the stretch, with Rafa gaining a slight advantage before Mohawk Warrior swept by to win by one length in 1:51.4.
Mohawk Warrior was the 4-5 favourite and paid $3.60 to win. Rafa finished second over Shades Of Bay. Cajon Lightning finished fourth, but was set back to sixth-place after judges ruled he interfered with Legion Of Boom in the stretch. Mitt Jagger (Paul MacDonell), closing from third over, inherited fourth-place while Legion Of Boom was sixth-placed-fifth.
Mohawk Warrior has won half of his six starts this year and has finished no worse than third in those outings for seasonal earnings over $45,000. He is now a career winner of 11 of his 33 starts and $138,561.
To view Saturday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Saturday Results - Woodbine Racetrack.