O'Brien Award winner Anndrovette headlined the Maple Leaf Trot undercard with a dazzling 1:48.1 world record performance in the $391,000 Roses Are Red Stakes on Saturday night at Mohawk Racetrack.
With Tim Tetrick in the sulky, Anndrovette fired to command from post six and established an early three length lead during a speedy :25.4 first quarter. The five-year-old Riverboat King-Easy Miss mare carved out middle fractions of :54 and 1:21 while Drop The Ball (Doug McNair), who set a track record in her elimination, advanced first up from fourth flushing Rocklamation (Brian Sears) from the pocket around the final turn.
Rocklamation confronted the leading lady, but Anndrovette dug in down the lane to prevail by half a length. She destroyed the track and Canadian record and lowered Southwind Tempo's world record for aged pacing mares on a mile track by one-fifth of a second. Drop The Ball edged out Rocklamation for runner-up honours. Put On A Show (Jody Jamieson), the favoured elimination winner, finished one and a quarter lengths behind in fourth.
"She raced really strong," said Tetrick in the winner's circle. "I had intentions of rolling her down the road and we set up some big fractions and beat Put On A Show and Drop The Ball. I knew they were right there and I knew it would be a race to the finish, but my mare fought tough. Three-quarters in [1]:21, she raced her heart out."
Anndrovette paid $28.40 for the upset win. Paul Fraley trains the millionaire mare for New Jersey owners Bamond Racing LLC of Brick and Joseph Davino of Clarksburg.
Three-year-old trotting filly Lovely Vacation and driver Randy Waples kicked off the stakes action on Saturday night with a 1:55 victory in the first of four Canadian Breeders Championships.
Circles (Luc Ouellette) fired off the gate from the outside post 10 in the $166,373 event and cleared to command ahead of post six starter Lovely Vacation around the first turn. Meanwhile, elimination winner Im On Cloud Nine (Jack Moiseyev) made a costly break in stride.
After the :28.1 first quarter mark, Lovely Vacation swept to command and carved out middle splits of :57.4 and 1:25.4 with the popular elimination winner Miss Paris (Rick Zeron) advancing first up from mid-pack and Circles making a break around the final turn.
Miss Paris applied pressure to the pacesetter into the stretch, but levelled off leaving Lovely Vacation to contend with the quick-closing Frisky Strike (Scott Zeron). Lovely Vacation managed to hold off the pylon-skimming filly to win by half a length. Miss Paris finished third.
"She's a really nice filly, but she was in against a really nice bunch of fillies too," commented Waples after the win. "She's showed at different times she can beat them and it was all basically going to come to to the trip. She's got great gate speed and she can get you to a place you want to be. She's a little bit tough to place sometimes because if she gets fighting with you she'll make a a break so she's a litle bit dicey that way, but after she gets settled and is where she wants she's beautiful to drive. I knew there was a lot of power coming behind me, but the fractions were reasonable and she seems to be relaxed when she's up front."
Lovely Vacation paid $32.50 to win as the 15-1 fourth choice. Mark Steacy trains the Majestic Son-Short Vacation miss for owners Shawn Steacy of Lansdowne, Ont., David McDonald of Cornwall, Ont., Joe Loring of Canmore, Alta., and Dr. Malcolm G. Man Son Hing of Campbell River, B.C.
Knows Nothing delivered as the even-money favourite in the $159,058 three-year-old trotting colt division in 1:54.3 for driver Jody Jamieson and trainer Jeff Gillis prior to their big win in the Maple Leaf Trot.
Leaving from the nine-hole, Reckon Im Ready (Mike Vanderkemp) marched to the top spot while outsider Jetcrest (Anthony MacDonald) and elimination winner Prestidigitator (Sylvain Filion) broke stride early on. Reckon Im Ready led the way to the first quarter mark in :27.2, but then gave way to Decret Justiciale (Mario Baillargeon), who brushed up from fourth down the backstretch.
The new leader hit the half in :56.4 and proceeded to three-quarters in 1:25.4 with Cold Certified (Jason Brewer) flushed first up by Il Mago (Randy Waples) while third over Knows Nothing began to rally three-wide.
Down the stretch, Knows Nothing came flying home on the outside to prevail by a length over Cold Certified and Decret Justiciale.
"I thought I had the best horse when the sheet came out," commented Jamieson after the victory. "Obviously, Prestidigitator has been awesome, he just hasn't faced Knows Nothing yet and hopefully he stays good."
Knows Nothing, who received a bye to the final, paid $4 to win for the sixth time in seven career starts. The near perfect Kadabra-Savvy Yankee colt is now Hambletonian-bound for Ontario owners Al Libfeld of Pickering, Marvin Katz of Toronto, Mac Nichol of Burlington and the J Gillis G Stay partnership of Hillsburgh.
"It's going to be a lot of fun for an Ontario-sired horse to go down there and mix it up with the big boys," added Jamieson.
Three-year-old pacing filly Class Of O Nine overcame the outside post nine to score the first win of her sophomore campaign in a career-best 1:51.3 in the following $148,540 Canadian Breeders Championship with Waples picking up the drive for trainer Bob McIntosh.
Favourite Cooking The Books (Jack Moiseyev) left from post eight and cleared to command past the :27.1 first quarter pole while insider Eat Me Up (Doug McNair) jumped it off in the early going.
Cooking The Books led the fillies to the half in :55.2 and three-quarters in 1:23 while elimination winner Mindsweeper (Jody Jamieson) advanced first up from fourth and applied heavy pressure.
Mindsweeper edged ahead into the stretch, but the backfield began to fan wide and close in on the leading fillies. Widest of them all was Class Of O Nine and she unleashed a :27.3 final frame to get up for the half length victory over Katys Jet (Scott Zeron) with Mindsweeper and Lyons Luck (Tim Tetrick) finishing right there in third in a dead-heat.
"You never really want the 10-hole, but she does race really well from behind," said Waples. "So I was just hoping for some fast fractions and there was some and she got towed up into the race and it just worked out well.
"I just want to give a huge shoutout to Steve Condren, who did a great job last week getting her into the final," he added. "I wish he could have been here tonight and I hope you're feeling better."
Class Of O Nine paid $8.90 to win as the 7-2 second choice. The Camluck-Skippin School filly is owned and bred by Robert McIntosh Stables Inc. of Windsor, Ont. and Dwight Stacey of Mitchell, Ont.
Michaels Power drew off down the stretch to win the final $230,000 Canadian Breeders Championship for three-year-old pacing colts in 1:50 flat.
Driven by Scott Zeron, the Camluck-Michelles Jackpot gelding left from post six and cleared to command around the first turn during a :27-second first quarter.
I Found My Beach (Randy Waples) advanced first over from fourth down the backstretch and poked a head in front at the half, timed in :54.3, but Michaels Power fought back and was in full control by the 1:21.3 three-quarters mark. Meanwhile, slight second choice Warrawee Needy (Jody Jamieson) broke stride from second over.
As Michaels Power turned for home, he began to open up on the field, pacing away to equal his mark of 1:50, established in the Upper Canada Cup at Georgian Downs earlier this year. Secretsoftheknight (Doug McNair) finished four and a half lengths behind off a pocket trip while I Found My Beach settled for third.
"I got away with a cheap quarter of :27 flat and I didn't think anyone was going to be coming, but when I saw Randy I thought he was second best in the race and I was going to let him go," explained Zeron after the race. "But his horse didn't look as good, I thought he was going to clear to the front easier than that. I was kind of playing coy with him; I was going to let him go, but it turns out my horse just felt so good so I let him rattle a little bit."
Michaels Power paid $4.40 to win. The Casie Coleman trainee, now seven-for-eight during his sophomore year, is owned and bred by New York's Jeffrey Snyder. His career bankroll soared past the half-million mark.
In regular racing action, new millionaire Alsace Hanover won the $38,000 Preferred Pace in 1:49.2 with Waples driving for trainer Tony O'Sullivan and owner John Fielding of Toronto. The $30,000 Preferred 2 Pace went to Foreclosure N, driven by Tetrick for trainer Chris Ryder and owners Richard and Joanne Young of Coconut Creek, Florida, in 1:49.3.
To view Saturday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Saturday Results - Mohawk Racetrack.