Young and burgeoning trotting talent will hit the track at Woodbine Mohawk Park on Saturday night (Aug. 20) with three eliminations for the William Wellwood Memorial and two elims for its filly companion, the Peaceful Way.
The William Wellwood Memorial drew 25 horses into the box for two eliminations with eight-horse fields and one with nine. A total of 14 entered for the Peaceful Way and were divided evenly into two seven-horse eliminations.
Elimination one for the Wellwood Memorial sees partnership conglomerate TheStable.ca bring Carter Michael Deo back north after the Ron Burke trainee finished third in the $337,000 Peter Haughton Memorial. James MacDonald is slated to drive the colt by International Moni, who is a half-brother to European star Tae Kwon Deo. He scores from Post 5 in a field which includes Luc Blais pupil Tuscan Prince, who enters off back-to-back wins in Ontario Sires Stakes (OSS) Grassroots company; and Jokic, the Cantab Hall gelding named from the team of trainer Dustin and driver Tyler Jones who is named for Standardbred ambassador and two-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets.
Andy & Julie Miller ship their promising Bar Hopping colt French Wine into town for the second Wellwood Elim. The colt out of Creamy Mimi, whom Andy Miller steered to a Hambletonian Oaks victory in 2008, enters off three consecutive wins, two of which came in Kentucky Championship Series preliminaries. He’ll start from Post 7 against a group which also features the one-two finishers from the $90,000 Millard Farms Final, series champ Lukes Bar and runner-up Ghostly Casper.
Trainer John Bax has a pair in the third Wellwood elimination. Having finished second in this event last year with Duly Resolved, Bax returns with another progressive colt in Snowpiercer, who will start from Post 2. The son of Muscle Mass has two wins on his card – one in an OSS Gold prelim – as well as a second and a third in Gold company. Paul MacDonell steers the stablemate to Southwind Coors, who Bax will send in rein to Mike Saftic from Post 1. Osceola, who has won back to back OSS Gold prelims, will also look to run his streak up with Doug McNair in the sulky behind the Gregg McNair trainee starting from Post 6.
The winner of the William Wellwood Memorial Final gains automatic entry into the 2022 Mohawk Million, slated for Saturday, Sept. 24.
Team Jones comes to the first Peaceful Way elimination attempting to show their win with upset win with Tactical Planner in the Pure Ivory Final was no fluke. The daughter of Tactical Landing sprung from off the speed to land a half-length blow at the beam in the series shocker and will now have to defend that form from Post 1 against a field which includes stateside invader Graceful Patty, who ships north for trainer Tony Alagna off a fourth-place finish in the $355,000 Jim Doherty Memorial.
Conditioner John Bax also has a promising youngster in the second Peaceful Way elim with the Resolve filly Righteous Resolve, the sister to the aforementioned O'Brien Award-winning Duly Resolved. Paul MacDonell is set to drive the filly from Post 2 following back-to-back wins in OSS Gold company. Her competition includes stateside shipper Heart On Fire for trainer Tony Alagna and Silly Me Hanover, third-place finisher in the Pure Ivory Series, among others.
To view Saturday’s harness racing entries, click one of the following links: Woodbine Mohawk Park - Saturday Entries || Saturday Program Pages (courtesy TrackIT).