After a pair of eye-catching victories late last year, North America Cup eligible No Control picked up where he left off when making his sophomore debut in the Ontario Sired Spring Series on Friday night (April 7) at Woodbine Mohawk Park.
After their filly counterparts faced off on Thursday night, the colts competed in four $18,000 divisions -- a pair for the pacers and two for the trotters. The series is for Ontario-sired three-year-olds that were non-winners of $30,000 in 2022.
Parked early on from the outside post nine, 3-5 favourite No Control ($3.30) and driver Tyler Jones found a hole in sixth around the first turn then caught cover in the final bend and launched down the lane to reel in runaway leader Ikes Dream for the 1:54.1 victory with a :26.1 final quarter. Gandolf The Black got up for second over Ikes Dream, finishing a length behind the winner.
The lightly raced Control The Moment-Dani Hanover gelding is now three-for-four in his career for trainer Tan Micallef, who co-owns with Keira Liberte and Ian Clarke.
Earlier in the evening, 6-5 favourite Nightime Dancer ($4.60) made a big third-quarter move, sweeping from sixth to first for driver Jody Jamieson and pacing away in :27.3 for his own series score in 1:54.1, a new lifetime mark. Early leader Delightful Leader finished 2-1/2 lengths behind in second and The Will To Play edged out Speaker Of Peace For third.
Rod Boyd trains the popular winner, who is two-for-two to start his sophomore season after making just two starts as a rookie. The Sunshine Beach-That Day colt is owned by 1187422 Ontario Inc.
Jamieson also scored a series win with his own three-year-old Devils Arch ($3.50), the fastest of the two trotting winners in 1:57. The 3-5 favourite led all the way through fractions of :28.4, :58.4 and 1:28 en route to the 4-1/4-length victory over Airborne and The Great Reset.
After making breaks in his first four starts as a two-year-old, Devils Arch now sports a sophmore record reading 2-1-3 from nine outings for trainer Courtney Bishop. Jamieson co-owns the Archangel-Bobbi Joes Ex gelding with Wendy Gualtieri and Mary Moody.
The other trotting division went to Like Chaos ($22), who advanced from third to take over command by the midway mark and never looked back in a career-best 1:58 mile to notch his third win in a row for trainer/driver Bruce Richardson. Sayonara Royalty chased four lengths behind while early leader Jeronimo settled for third.
Richardson also co-owns the 10-1 upsetter with Joseph Coffey. The Lookslikeachpndale-Misty Breeze gelding has won half of his six starts this year after going winless in eight as a freshman.
To view Friday's harness racing results, click the following link: Friday Results - Woodbine Mohawk Park.