Newcomer Oscar Oscar made his Woodbine debut on a wet and sloppy Friday night and issued a strong statement with a convincing 1:54.1 victory in one of two $25,000 divisions in the second round of the Youthful Pacing Series for three-year-olds
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In the other split, contested over a deteriorating oval, Its A Good Thing notched his seventh win of the campaign with a 1:59 tally.
Oscar Oscar entered Friday’s race on the heels of two impressive victories at The Meadowlands and had the services of Mark MacDonald who was subbing for the absent Jody Jamieson.
The son of Western Terror - Cup Of Jo left hard from Post 5 and got caught in the middle of a three-wide sprint to the first quarter of :27.3 before eventually landing in the pocket behind Herestopatrick (Luc Ouellette).
Oscar Oscar remained in second spot through a half in :55.3 and three-quarters in 1:24.1. As the field turned for home, MacDonald was able to work his charge to the outside where he powered away to a 6-1/2 length win. Allamerican Motive (Sylvain Filion) came on to finish second with Scottie C (Jack Moiseyev) rounding out the top three.
Oscar Oscar is now perfect in three career starts for trainer Tracy Brainard and owner Bulletproof Enterprises of Boca Raton, Florida.
Its A Good Thing went straight to the front for driver Randy Waples in the second division and then yielded Blue Suede Shoes (Joshua Marks) who put up the opening half in 1:00. The new race leader then went for broke with a :27.2 third quarter, hitting the third station in 1:27.2.
As the field turned for home, Waples got Its A Good Thing to the outside and he quickly took over the lead. Despite tiring in the late stages, he was able to hold on over a closing Pictonian Pride (Rick Zeron) with Dervish Hanover (Jason Brewer), who took a huge shuffle in the middle half, finishing a lapped-on third.
Its A Good Thing is now seven-for-nine this season for trainer Bob McIntosh who co-owns along with Dwight Stacey of Ontario and Michael Kohler of Michigan. The winner’s share of the purse boosted his bankroll to just over $70,000.
The $57,000 Youthful Series Final will go postward next Friday night from Woodbine.
Waples, who is nearing the $80 million mark in career earnings, is currently ranked second in the WEG driver colony standings. He has banked nearly $1.5 million so far this season and sports a win percentage of 13.3%.
Driver Mike Saftic, who has earned over $1.1 million this year, is also en route to surpass the $80 million plateau.
To view Friday's results, click here.
(With files from WEG)