The 2016 debut for Canada’s Older Trotting Horse of the Year in 2015 wasn’t exactly headline material, but his follow-up performance in Monday’s $34,000 Preferred Trot at Mohawk Racetrack certainly was.
Flanagan Memory, a two-time O’Brien Award winner, was allowed to settle into the five-hole when the starting gate sped away while Windsun Revenge shot to the top and supplied the opening quarter of :28.2. O Narutac Perfetto was on the move early, and he eventually worked his way to the top. Exemplar was hot on that one’s heels, and he worked his way to the lead and continued to slice out the speed past the half in :56.4.
He was still the boss at the three-quarter pole in 1:26, but they were starting to gang up on him. O Narutac Perfetto popped out of the pocket halfway around the last turn, but he never managed to gain on the leader. Flanagan Memory and Chris Christoforou kicked off O Narutac Perfetto’s cover and used his :27.4 closing speed to win by 2-1/2 lengths over race favourite Charmed Life. Whiskey Tax rallied from last to finish third.
Trainer Rene Dion of Saint-Lazare, QC co-owns the six-year-old son of Kadabra-Classy Stacy with Liette Flanagan of Repentigny, QC. Sent off at odds of 2-1, Flanagan Memory won for the 14th time in his career while pushing his lifetime earnings to $946,071.
Miller Sweeps Billings Trots
In the Billings Series’ first venture north of the border this season, ‘Hurricane Hannah’ Miller showed why she was named National Amateur Driver of the Year during 2015, as she took Canada by storm and won both divisions of the CKG Billings trots at Mohawk on Monday night.The talented miss won the first event when she rallied to a 1:58.4 victory with Domitian Hall and followed that with a hard charging come-from-behind 1:59 triumph with Princess Crown in the other Billings split.
“The first horse was a very classy horse and my focus was to keep him flat,” Miller said afterward. “He was solid the whole mile and finished strong. The second race I was longer odds coming from the outside and I got away farther back but coming around the last turn she exploded and got up just in time. It was definitely a night to remember and I can't thank the trainers enough.”
To view results for Monday’s card of harness racing, click the following link: Monday Results – Mohawk Racetrack.
(With files from CKG Billings)