Sylvain Filion was allowed to dictate the terms of the tempo with Brandon CS in Thursday evening’s $50,000 final of the Bridger Stakes for two-year-old trotters at Mohawk Racetrack, and that was music to the ears of the colt’s connections
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The son of Chocolatier-C C Jennifer P withstood late challenges to win in 1:59.3 for the S S G Stables of North Boston, New York.
Brandon CS got away fourth and watched Leave Your Mark trot on the lead through an opening quarter clocked in :29.3. Sensing the pedestrian tempo, Filion commenced a first-over move to the lead in the second quarter with Brandon CS, and they cleared a few strides after the half flashed up in 1:00. Brandon C S was still on the lead around the final turn, but Duke Of Vegas applied first over and showed a short lead while parked past the three-quarter pole in 1:30.1. Brandon CS regained the lead as the field entered the stretch, and he used a :29.2 final frame to post the neck decision over Back To Peace. Leave Your Mark re-emerged in the closing strides to finish third.
"Well first of all, when I seen that we were not going much, I thought I could control the pace and that’s what we did,” Filion said following the race. “He was comfortable on the lead, but he was a little bumpy around the final turn, so I had to baby him. He is very green, but when we got into the stretch he was fine."
Frank O’Reilly trains the youngster, who has picked up two wins in his first three assignments. The gelding, who was a $20,000 purchase from last year’s Harrisburg Yearling Sale, upped his lifetime earnings to $33,500 with the win.
For more on the series’ namesake, Bridger, click here.
(With quotes from WEG)
To view results for Thursday's card of harness racing, click the following link: Thursday Results – Mohawk Racetrack.