Some of Ontario’s brightest stars will begin their four-year-old campaigns in this weekend’s first leg of the Ontario Sired Graduate Series at Woodbine Mohawk Park.
The new Ontario Graduate Series for four-year-olds offers an event for pacers, mare pacers, and trotters. Each event will consist of three $25,000 preliminary legs and a $75,000 added money final. All three finals will take place on Saturday, May 6.
This Friday’s (April 14) program will feature leg one for mare pacers and the trotters, while the Saturday (April 15) card will have the opener for the pacing event.
O’Brien Award winner Silver Label (Post 3, James MacDonald) leads a field of 11 for the Ontario Graduate Mare Pace. The Millar Farms homebred makes her season debut after posting a 1:53.3 qualifying victory (with a :27 last quarter) on April 8 at Mohawk Park. The Nick Gallucci-trained Silver Label won six of 14 starts last season, earning just shy of $500,000. Her biggest victory came in the Ontario Sires Stakes Super Final. The daughter of Bettors Delight sits at 12 wins and $839,864 in earnings entering her four-year-old season.
Leg one of the Ontario Graduate Mare Pace goes as Race 4 (with an approximate post time of 8:15 p.m.) on Friday.
Mark Etsell trainee Adare Castle (Post 4, James MacDonald) will begin her four-year-old campaign against eight rivals in the first leg of the Ontario Graduate Open Trot. The O’Brien Award-winning Adare Castle earned $1.1 million over the course of her two and three-year-old seasons. The daughter of Muscle Mass won seven of 13 starts and earned $668,654 last year. She’s only missed the top two twice from 22 career outings. Adare Castle tuned up for her season debut with a pair of qualifying efforts, most recently finishing third behind Safe Conduct with a final quarter in :26.4 last Saturday.
Ontario Sires Stakes Super Final champion Safe Conduct (Post 5, Chris Christoforou) will also make his season debut in Friday’s contest. The Camilla Christoforou trainee posted four wins and earned more than $260,000 in 13 starts last season.
The field of nine for leg one of the Ontario Graduate Trot does include three mares, with Saundra (Post 3, Bob McClure) and Mischevious Rose (Post 8, Louis-Philippe Roy) joining Adare Castle.
Round one of the Ontario Graduate Trot is carded as Race 6 (9:05 p.m. approximate post time) on Friday.
The series continues Saturday with a field of seven clashing in leg one of the Ontario Graduate Open Pace division.
Ontario Sires Stakes Super Final champion Cold Creek Queso (Post 2, Sylvain Filion) is the morning-line favourite in round one. The Murray Brethour trainee won five of 17 starts last season, earning $235,052 for his connections. Cold Creek Queso will be making his season debut after two qualifiers, including a 1:55 win (with a :27.4 last quarter) on April 3.
The first leg of the Ontario Graduate for pacers is Race 3 (7:50 p.m. approximate post time) on Saturday.
Post time for each night of live racing is 7 p.m.
Click on the following links for free programs for the Friday and Saturday cards.
To view complete entries for Woodbine Mohawk Park, click on the following link: Entries - Woodbine Mohawk Park.
(With files from Woodbine)