The Ontario Sires Stakes (OSS) will be in full swing at Woodbine Mohawk Park this weekend with six Gold Series races over Friday and Saturday.
Pacing freshmen will be the centre of attention on Friday night with a pair of $100,000-plus divisions each for the boys and girls. Jimmy Freight filly Resilience is one to watch in race two, the first OSS race of the evening, a $102,200 division for the fillies.
Driver Louis-Philippe Roy co-owns the filly with Ecurie Francis Richard Inc., Ecurie Csl, and Weaver Bruscemi LLC, and sat behind her in the first Grassroots leg on July 13 where she won by an astonishing eight lengths in 1:52.2.
It was her second straight eye-catching performance, following a five-length win in a qualifier on July 4, and Roy isn’t surprised by her early success.
“Since day one, she was training with the top set of eight or nine babies we have with Eric Nadeau,” said Roy. “She has always just been mature and doing things better than anyone else. Even the ones that were training really good, she just looked like something different.”
Her performance in the Grassroots was so impressive that the morning line oddsmaker has listed her as 4-5. Roy will leave from post seven on Saturday night, a similar outer post to the nine she had in her debut, where she showed good gate speed making the front and pacing the first quarter in :27.1.
“I like to think she can race from anywhere,” said Roy. “I know the way she qualified and raced last week, it looks like she is hot but that’s not really the case. I hope I can race her whatever way. It depends on what the other horses are like and if there is early speed in the race.”
Nadeau trains the filly, who Roy said has undergone a shoeing change since her last race, and the result is she feels more solid.
In the other pacing filly division on Friday, Roy will be sitting behind Pass Line, who is looking to build on her success in the first Gold leg on July 11 when she won her third straight start to begin her career in 1:51.4. The Dave Menary trainee has shown impressive speed, with a :25.3 final quarter in her June 20 debut at Mohawk jumping off her racelines. The Burke Racing Stable and Weaver Bruscemi homebred will leave from post seven as the 8-5 morning line favourite in the sixth race, $102,200 Gold division.
On the male side of the ledger, both winners from leg one are back in leg two on Friday with Menary trainee T H McMurry (Doug McNair) in race three, a $103,100 division, and the Nick Gallucci-trained Chain Gang (James MacDonald) in race seven, a $104,000 division.
Another colt to watch in the seventh race division is Mirage Hanover, a $175,000 purchase at the Harrisburg yearling sale who was heavily favoured in his round one division. The Bettors Delight colt made a break out of the gate, but rebounded to finish third. Scott McEneny trains for owner Marvin Rounick and Bob McClure will be back aboard when they leave from post six.
Post time for Friday's card is 7 p.m.
To view Friday's harness racing entries, click the following link: Friday Entries - Woodbine Mohawk Park.
(With files from OR)