Ontario’s most talented three-year-old trotting fillies took a star turn on TSN’s Racing Night Live at Woodbine Mohawk Park on Thursday and Princesspartypants opened the Gold Series season with an impressive come-from-behind victory in the first $73,067 division.
Starting from Post 8, trainer-driver Roger Mayotte opted to ease Princesspartypants down to the rail in eighth as Shape Shifter sprinted out to an early lead. Heading for the :27.2 opening quarter the dynamics of the race changed when fan favourite Wine Rack Hanover made a break while sitting third, spreading out the fillies in her wake.
Mayotte and Princesspartypants had narrowed the gap and were six lengths back when Massive Flirt reached the :56.4 half and they soon caught cover from Susies Lady, following that filly through the 1:26.3 three-quarters. Turning for home Mayotte gave Princesspartypants a clear look at the wire and the Muscle Mass filly shifted into high gear, powering home to a two and one-half length victory in a personal best 1:54.4. Shape Shifter stayed game for second and Yen closed well for third.
“From the outside post and first (OSS) start, we just decided to play that route and it worked out. She’s very versatile that way,” said Mayotte. “I was following her (Susies Lady) there and she was throwing quite a bit of dirt up at my filly and my filly just wasn’t real smooth, because the dirt was hitting her and it was obviously bothering her, stinging her. As soon as I tipped off her back she just smoothed right out, just changed gears.”
Mississauga resident Mayotte trains Princesspartypants for Just In Time Stable of Mississauga, R A W Equine Inc. of Burlington and Big Als Stables Inc. of Woodbridge, ON. Thursday’s victory was the filly’s first in two sophomore starts and marked her first-ever visit to the Gold Series winner’s circle. At two she won a division of the Grassroots season opener before making the leap up to the Gold Series, finishing just shy of the point tally required for a post season berth.
The second division saw freshman point leader Warrawee Vicky make her return to the Gold Series winner’s circle. Lining up at Post 6, driver Doug McNair sent the fan favourite straight to the front and the duo never had to glance back, cruising through fractions of :28, :57.2 and 1:26.2 on their way to a 1:54.2 victory. Kombucha stalked Warrawee Vicky from start to finish and earned the runner-up’s spoils while Mayotte and Modern Mass closed well to be third.
“She seems to be good right now, we’ve got to do a little fine tuning to keep her straight,” said trainer Scott McEneny, referring to the filly’s middle of the racetrack finish. “But you know, she’s got such good gate speed that she gets spotted pretty good.”
McEneny noted that a combination of mental maturity and newly configured equipment are helping keep the Royalty For Life daughter on an even keel and allowing McNair to better use her tactical speed.
“If you’d have rolled her out of there last year, you’d just be a passenger going to the half,” said the Puslinch, ON resident. “That’s her biggest thing, you’ve got to be able to manage her.”
Milton, ON resident Brad Grant owns Warrawee Vicky, who also had one prep race under belt heading into the Gold Series season opener.
GP Dreamin wrapped up the Gold Series season opener with the quickest mile of the three divisions. Starting from Post 5 driver Jody Jamieson put the Cornaro Dasolo miss on the front and rang up a :27.4 quarter. With pressure coming from PL Notsonice Jamieson let the fan favourite roll to a :56.1 half and a 1:24 three-quarters and had opened up to a five length lead by the top of the stretch. Although Jamieson took his foot off the gas late, her peers could not catch GP Dreamin and she hit the wire five and three-quarter lengths the best in 1:53.3. PL Notsonice stayed game for second and Magic Cape rounded out the top three.
“Jared (Bothwell) has done a great job. She’s real mean and cantankerous in the barn and he deals with her and keeps her as happy as he possibly can so she can perform like she did tonight,” said Moffat resident Jamieson. “She was monster kid tonight, really.”
Jared Bothwell trains GP Dreamin for Carolyn Polillo of Brantford, ON. Thursday’s start was the filly’s third of the season and she boasts a flawless record of consecutively faster wins. As a two-year-old GP Dreamin won a Grassroots leg and made one Gold Series start before her season was cut short by sickness.
The three-year-old trotting fillies will make their second Gold Series start on July 26 at Rideau Carleton Raceway in Ottawa.
Ontario Sires Stakes action continues at Woodbine Mohawk Park on Friday with the Gold Series debut of the two-year-old pacing colts who will compete in Races 2 and 8 on the 7 p.m. program. The Milton oval will also host two Gold Series divisions for the three-year-old pacing colts on Saturday, featured as Races 3 and 6.
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To view results for Thursday's card of harness racing, click the following link: Thursday Results – Woodbine Mohawk Park.