Over the past few seasons, trainer Mark Etsell has successfully campaigned some notable offspring from trotting mare SOS Respect. L P Bay and Etsell might just prove to be another winning combination.
A son of Trixton, L P Bay provided his dam with another record performer with a 1:59.2 wire-to-wire performance during the session of qualifiers on Saturday, June 28 at Woodbine Mohawk Park to clock the fastest mile among the two-year-old male trotters entered.
With Mario Baillargeon at the controls, L P Bay breezed through splits of :30.2, 1:00.4 and 1:31 before bolting home in :28.2 for the two-length tally over Strobe Lite (Tyler Borth) with Totally Iconic (Austin Sorrie) third best.
L P Bay is a half-brother to the likes of the accomplished half millionaires Willowtime ($518,813) and Sea Can ($511,917), both of whom were developed by and enjoyed success under the tutelage of Etsell in their early careers before heading stateside. Etsell is the co-owner of the brown colt with breeder Terry Devos of Langton and Peter Porter of Port Dover, Ont.
On the pacing side, Sweet Lovin Lou gave his connections an effort to adore by clocking the fastest mile of the morning.
Sweet Lovin Lou sat the pocket behind an amped-up Gobi Hanover (Gino Toscani) through fractions of :29.2, :58.1 and 1:26.4. Once that third station was reached, driver James MacDonald right-lined Sweet Lovin Lou and the pacing colt powered past the pacesetter in a matter of moments. With a two-length advantage charted at the top of the stretch, Sweet Lovin Lou hit the wire five lengths to the good over Dontenvyme Hanover (Doug McNair) in a time of 1:55.1. Gobi Hanover rounded out the top trio.
Dan Lagace co-owns and trains Sweet Lovin Lou, a son of Sweet Lou from the Somebeachsomewhere mare Lovers Dream. Lagace and co-owners Edwin Buhler of Wantagh, N.Y., Big Als Stables of Woodbridge and Brooke & Brady Lagace of Cambridge, Ont. shelled out $97,222 to purchase the bay at Harrisburg from breeders Joseph Davino, Brad Shackman, Drennan Stable LLC and Anthony Perretti Farm LLC.
The full video stream from Saturday's qualifying session is available below.
For results from the qualifying session, click the following link: Saturday Results - Woodbine Mohawk Park (Qualifiers).
(Standardbred Canada)