After making a triumphant season's debut in round one of the Canadian Graduate Series for four-year-old Canadian-sired trotters, Paquet was a repeat winner in the second leg for the father and son, training and driving team of Carl and Jody Jamieson on Friday, April 25 at Woodbine Mohawk Park.
The series continued with just one bulky field for the trotting division duking it out for a $25,000 purse and spot in the $75,000 final on Saturday, May 3, when Paquet will be seeking a series sweep after knocking four-fifths of a second off his lifetime mark in a 1:52.2 national season's trotting record.
With one scratch, a field of 10 lined up for the second leg with Sid The Kid, the 6-1 second choice, leaving from the middle of the gate to set up shop on top for driver Doug McNair. They cut the quarter in :27.2 and led the single-file field of trotters down the backstretch to the half in :56.3 when Jamieson started to roll from fifth, flushing cover towards the turn in the form of Masstercraft (Brett MacDonald).
Sid The Kid started to open up his rivals to three-quarters in 1:24.3 while Jamieson sent the 1-5 favourite three-wide and reeled in the leader through the stretch to score by half a length with the trotter's final frame clocked in :26.4. Mrstery Deal (Todd Ratchford) closed at the pylons off a three-hole trip and edged out Masstercraft in a show photo, with pocket-sitter Willowtime (Louis-Philippe Roy) in between that pair.
An O'Brien Award finalist last year after his $344,432 debut campaign, Paquet is now perfect in two seasonal/series starts in 2025, improving his lifetime record to six-for-10. The Muscle Mass-Darjeeling stallion is co-owned by his Hall of Fame trainer along with the Estate of Brian Paquet of Quebec City, Que., 1140545 Ontario Ltd. of Guelph, Ont., and Douglas Good of Chatham, Ont.
To view Friday's harness racing results, click the following link: Friday Results - Woodbine Mohawk Park.
(Standardbred Canada)