Four eliminations featuring sophomore trotting and pacing colts were amongst an action-packed Saturday night card of harness racing at Mohawk Racetrack
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Big Bay Point kicked off the $35,758 CBC elims for three-year-old pacing colts and geldings with a 6-1 upset in line to Mario Baillargeon.
Big Bay Point left from Post 4 and led the gapped out field through fractions of :27, :54.4 and 1:22 en route to a career-best 1:49.4 victory by over two lengths. The son of Camluck-Great Memories was followed under the wire by Twin B Warrior (Randy Waples), 2-5 favourite Dalhousie Dave (Rick Zeron), Mach Dreamer (Luc Ouellette) and Windsong Gorgeous (Phil Hudon).
“We’ve pretty well raced him on the front as long as we’ve had him and he’s getting a little bit hot and I don’t want people to think he’s one-dimensional,” said trainer David Menary in a post-race interview with WEG’s Chris Hickey. “When we raced him here early out of a hole he had a lot of go one night and did get through. Tonight, Rick and Randy didn’t leave so that kind of helped us out. They got strung out pretty bad and we were able to take advantage of that, but he’s not one-dimensional. You can’t wire horses like this every week. They were really coming to him at the end but we got lucky and now we get to pick our post.”
Big Bay Point paid $14.10 to win as the third choice. The victory was the gelding’s fourth in his last five starts and 14th this year lifting his earnings to over $90,000 for owners Burke Racing Stable LLC of Fredericktown and Weaver Bruscemi LLC of Canonsburg, Pennsylvania. His sixth win overall bumped his career earnings over the $100,000 mark.
Future Million sat fourth for most of the mile, but kicked home in :27-seconds to take top honours in the second elim for pacers.
Haul Away (Randy Waples) was the early leader taking the field to the :28.1 first quarter before Grin Big (Chris Christoforou) brushed up to take over with Rock Me Amastreos (Luc Ouellette) pressing the pace past the :56.1 half.
Rock Me Amastreos was unable to clear and as a result Future Million rolled three-deep and offered up a new challenge as they raced past three-quarters in 1:24.1. Future Million wore down the leader in the stretch and drew away by over four lengths to win in a life’s-best 1:51.2. Haul Away (Randy Waples) was the runner-up and Toughest Of All (Paul MacDonell) came in third. Fourth and fifth-place went to Grin Big and Keystone Raptor (Jack Moiseyev).
“There was a pretty good speed duel [on the front end],” said Oliver after the race. “Luc never cleared and started to come back to him and I caught him and just moved [Future Million] three-deep and let him pace. He was still strong at the wire.”
“I drove him twice and I would say yes [he’s still learning the game]. He runs in and runs out. They put a Murphy blind on him tonight and it actually got him running in a bit tonight so it didn’t really help a lot but we’ll work on it through the week."
Future Million paid $5.90 to win as the 9-5 popular choice. The Million Dollar Cam-Future Champion colt won for the second time in seven tries this year and doubled his 2010 earnings in the process to over $35,000. His fifth win overall bumped his bankroll to $242,249. Trainer and breeder Donald Lowes shares ownership with Kerry Lowes of Princeton, ON.
In the first of two $35,475 CBC elims for sophomore trotting colts and geldings, the Bob McIntosh-trained Text Me avenged his loss to Dontgetinhisway in last week’s Ontario Sires Stakes Gold Final at Georgian Downs.
Windsong Geant (Steve Condren) released Text Me and Randy Waples to front the front en route to the first quarter in :27.3 with the rest of the field strung out as they trailed behind.
The 4-5 favourite took a breather during the second panel reaching the half in :57.4. At that point, Quantum Starship (Trevor Ritchie) moved first up from fourth with Dontgetinhisway (Rick Zeron) following his cover.
Meanwhile, Text Me continued to control the pace on top reaching three-quarters in 1:26.2. The Kadabra-Dial Nile colt was strong to the wire as he held off a hard driving Dontgetinhisway to win by one length in 1:54.3, equaling his lifetime mark. Windsong Geant was third with Quantum Starship and Lucero (Mario Baillargeon) fourth and fifth.
“I can’t even describe how bad last week was,” said Waples, recalling the colt’s trip in the OSS Gold Final on July 10 where he finished third. “I started taking him back off the gate last week and he just came back real fast and next thing I know I’m sitting last going for $130,000 and it was a middle half in about a minute and fifty seconds I think and I was just out of the vision and I didn’t want the same thing to happen this week. He was starting to come off the gate quiet again [tonight] and I saw Ricky’s horse starting to leave so I changed my mind and started to go forward. I chased him a little bit and then he wanted to keep going.”
“He’ll let a horse get up along side of him,” said Waples when asked how the colt felt in the stretch. “He doesn’t do a lot more than what he’s got to do. I think he’s a better horse coming from off the pace but it just seems like I can never get him situated in the right spot without giving up too much ground or without the fractions going too bad. He’s good up front too but I just think he’s a little bit better when he’s following a horse – he comes off a horse’s back real good – so one of the these times I’ll get the right kind of trip for him and I hope it's next week.”
Text Me paid $3.70 to win for the fifth time in eight starts this year. His earnings jumped to over $177,000. Breeders Robert McIntosh Stables Inc. of Windsor, ON and C S X Stables of Liberty Center, Ohio share ownership of the bay colt, a career winner of eight races and nearly $555,000, with Dave Boyle of Bowmanville, ON.
The CBC elim victory helped Waples to a driving grand slam during the 13-race program as he also clicked with a trio of aged horses winning the the Maple Leaf Trot and Roses Are Red eliminations and the Open Pace.
Next up was Hidden Message, who pulled off an 8-1 upset in the second elimination for trotting colts and geldings.
Go Go Red Marty (Mike Saftic) took early command leading to the first quarter in :27.3 while Hidden Message and Phil Hudon got away fifth from Post 5. From there, Boogie Woogie (Keith Oliver) swept up from third to take control and hit the half in :57.1.
Favourite Windsun Galaxie (Sylvain Filion) was next to move and applied heavy pressure past three-quarters in 1:26.2 with Hidden Message following his cover. Boogie Woogie opened up again at the top of the stretch, but Hidden Message unleashed a :27.3 final frame to come on for the career-best 1:54.3 victory. Boogie Woogie finished three-quarters of a length behind with Go Go Red Marty grabbing third. Windsun Galaxie and Arriba Amigo (Trevor Ritchie) finished fourth and fifth.
Hidden Message paid $19.20 for the upset as the third choice in the field. The gelded son of Kadabra-Lady Lionel has won five of his 11 starts this year earning $99,737 for trainer Emma Frieze and the Fintec Stables of Hamilton, ON.
Here is a look at the fields for next week's finals:
$166,871 Canadian Breeders Championships
Three-Year-Old Colt Pace
1. Haul Away
2. Dalhousie Dave
3. Future Million
4. Big Bay Point
5. Keystone Raptor
6. Mach Dreamer
7. Windsong Gorgeous
8. Twin B Warrior
9. Grin Big
10. Toughest Of All
AE1. Red Bugler
$165,550 Canadian Breeders Championships
Three-Year-Old Colt Trot
1. Quantum Starship
2. Boogie Woogie
3. Text Me
4. Hidden Message
5. Arriba Amigo
6. Lucero
7. Windsong Geant
8. Dontgetinhisway
9. Go Go Red Marty
10. Windsun Galaxie
AE1. Grumpy Jake
To view Saturday's results, click here.