Driver Tim Tetrick wrangled Call Me Goo to sit off the speed and caught a covered ride to vault effortlessly by 1-5 favourite M Ms Dream in the stretch and win the $233,000 Armbro Flight for older trotting mares, kicking off the Grand Circuit stakes action on North America Cup night, Saturday, June 15 at Woodbine Mohawk Park.
Trainer Jason Skinner envisioned a perfect trip for Call Me Goo following fellow elimination winner M Ms Dream, and Tetrick worked out the winning trip to perfection.
Leaving from post five, Tetrick floated Call Me Goo off the wings and landed in fifth just behind M Ms Dream to a :26.4 first quarter clicked by post 10 starter Tipsy Moni (Yannick Gingras). Tipsy Moni, clearing Tactical Mounds (Scott Zeron) for the point, then managed to slow the tempo up the backside to a :56 half as M Ms Dream (David Miller) waited until the final turn to make a move.
Once M Ms Dream pulled off the pegs, Call Me Goo had cover to the final turn but found herself third-over when Chake (Todd McCarthy) swiftly angled outside to make a charge after Tipsy Moni. Chake drew alongside her tempo-setting stablemate by three-quarters in 1:23.3 and slid to the lead while M Ms Dream and Call Me Goo fanned wider for open racetrack.
M Ms Dream gathered momentum and began inching forward, though Call Me Goo furiously hit the center of the track with a menacing challenge to the favourite. Tetrick simply worked to keep Call Me Goo straight as she barrelled forward in the late stages and edged away to a half length win in a career-best 1:51.2. M Ms Dream settled for second, Chake took third and Tactical Mounds wove around horses for fourth ahead of Tipsy Moni.
“When she’s on a helmet, she’s perfect. But when you give her half a cue, she wants to take all of it,” Tetrick said after the race. “She’s really nice to drive until she gets free lane [because] she wants to go real fast.
“I wanted to be able to trip her out, put her on a helmet, because I think she’s really good off a helmet,” Tetrick also said of his strategy going into the race. “Just the last couple of weeks we haven’t been able to do it because of circumstances. She still got the job done both times, [she] was first and second. Then today, she just proved that she is a good horse.”
Call Me Goo, a four-year-old daughter of Googoo Gaagaa, collected her fourth win from five starts this season and her 20th win from 28 starts in her career, good for $619,959 in earnings. Skinner trains the hallmark mare of his barn for owner Graham Grace Stables LLC of Clifton, Virginia.
“She’s by far the best I’ve ever trained,” Skinner said after the race. “She’s put me on the Grand Circuit. I’ve been here a couple of times, but never with a dominant horse like her. She’s definitely the best one.”
Sent off as the second choice in the betting, Call Me Goo paid $8.70 to win.
To view Saturday's harness racing results, click the following link: Saturday Results - Woodbine Mohawk Park.
(With files from Woodbine)