Trainer Kyle Fellows’ flock found the winner’s circle three times on Thursday, June 25 at Woodbine Mohawk Park, with two of his sophomore trotting geldings winning $25,000 divisions of the Ontario Sires Stakes (OSS) Grassroots.
Toss Of The Dice posted the fastest mile of the trio of splits for three-year-old male trotters with a pocket-rocket performance in the first clash. Wolverine Legend and he were first off the car, with Trevor Henry directing the former to the front to pocket Toss Of The Dice in a :27.1 first panel. The top two were without company through middle splits of :56.2 and 1:25.1 and had 2-1/4 lengths on their rivals going by three-quarters. With the rest vying for minor spoils in the final eighth of a mile, Toss Of The Dice overhauled Wolverine Legend to prevail by 2-1/4 lengths in 1:53. Sendi Ka (Bob McClure) finished third.
Toss Of The Dice, a Grassroots finalist last year, took his second career win in the series and improved to three-for-eight this season. Yolanda Fellows of Rockwood, Ont., Leo Fleming of Campbellville, Ont., Bill Manes of Rockwood and William Cripps of Acton, Ont. own the son of Archangel-Roll Sevens. He is now six-for-18 lifetime and has earned $80,370. Base win bets paid out $8.80.
Maize And Blue completed the Fellows triple as he took his first OSS victory in the third division. The Green Manalishi S-New Years Day gelding, coming into the contest off back-to-back wins, glided to the lead from post two and cut the early fractions of :27 and :56.3. With first-leg winners Another Great Mass (Trevor Henry) and First Class Mass (James MacDonald) first- and second-over, respectively, on the last turn, Maize And Blue raised the tempo to three-quarters in 1:25. A drifting First Class Mass joined Another Great Mass in pursuing the pacesetter in the stretch, but Maize And Blue held off the Muscle Mass geldings by three-quarters of a length to win in 1:53.2. First Class Mass snagged second over Another Great Mass.
Three straight wins for Maize And Blue have brought his career record to four-for-18 and his seasonal tally to three-for-six. The gelding has earned $67,015 for owner-breeder Ed Wilson of Seagrave, Ont. The win price was $7.30.
Fellows’ other win on the 10-race card came from Qued Up ($5.60), a rookie Cattlewash-Misqued filly who debuted a winner in 1:54.4 with Doug McNair at the controls. The trainer gained some distance to Jodie Cullen in the Mohawk standings, now leading 75-72 at the Campbellville, Ont. oval over Canada’s top conditioner. Fellows, coming off a career-high 167-win year, is 85-for-411 overall in 2026.
Stonebridge Wings ($6.90) took the second Grassroots division as he nailed favourite Tavern On the Green (Louis-Philippe Roy) by a head to score in 1:53.3. Zillennial (McNair) finished third. Marcel Barrieau trains Stonebridge Wings, an Archangel-Stonebridge Glider gelding, and co-owns him with Gestion Mastel Inc. of Longueil, Que.
To view Thursday’s harness racing results, click the following link: Thursday Results - Woodbine Mohawk Park.
(Standardbred Canada; photo of Toss Of The Dice winning on June 25)