Since picking up his O’Brien Award for Canada’s Older Trotting Horse of the Year in 2017, Odds On Amethyst has gone through some struggles. But those struggles came to an end in Monday’s $34,000 Preferred Trot at Woodbine Racetrack.
Odds On Amethyst bounced back from some recent breaks for trainer/driver Pat Hudon, who guided his ‘bread and butter’ horse to a 1:53.4 in the weekly trotting feature.
Hudon got away fifth with Odds On Amethyst while Big Rich shot to the lead and whacked out the opening quarter in :27.2. The tempo slowed in the second quarter, and that prompted Hudon to send his charge to the outside in a bid for the lead. Big Rich was still on top at the half in :57.2, but Odds On Amethyst was in attack mode while sitting third on the outside. Odds On Amethyst muscled his way to the top around the final turn, and he was the leader at the three-quarter pole in 1:25.2. A :28.2 closing quarter earned Odds On Amethyst the win by 2-1/4 lengths over Big Rich. Catch The Dream took home the show dough.
Hudon shares ownership on the seven-year-old son of Muscle Hill-Mystical Sunshine with William Cripps, Charles Gazzola and Adam Kean. The partners watched the classy campaigner push his lifetime earnings past $500,000 with the win.
Monday evening marked the third consecutive card in which trainer Richard Moreau sent out at least three winners.
The multiple O’Brien Award-winning conditioner had three winners this past Friday followed by another three-win performance the following night, and upon returning to Woodbine on Monday evening he racked up another three wins.
Ninoscredit (1:54.1 – Race 2) got the ball rolling on Monday evening for the white-hot trainer, and stablemates Pop I (1:55 – Race 7) and Mybrothergeorge (1:54.4 – Race 10) did their part to help Moreau bump his yearly win total to 64 and his earnings total for the season to $782,750. The Quebec native is just over $20,000 shy of surpassing $50 million in career earnings.
To view results for Monday's card of harness racing, click the following link: Monday Results – Woodbine Racetrack.