Mohawk Racetrack rolled out the red carpet on Saturday to many of sport’s finest freshmen pacers who are in town to do battle in the Eternal Camnation Stakes and the Nassagaweya Stakes
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Here’s a complete recap of tonight’s divisions:
ETERNAL CAMNATION STAKES – 2FP
1st division - $100,529
Idyllic sprung loose late and angled across the racetrack for driver Mark MacDonald en route to grabbed the opening division for the rookie fillies. The daughter of American Ideal-Magical Dreamer supplied the :27.3 opener before giving way to race favourite Strike An Attitude. That lass led the field through middle splits of :56 and 1:25.1 over a track which was rated “good”. So Perfect applied first over pressure on the leader around the final turn with Modern Connection riding cover and Idyllic sitting in the pocket. Idyllic cut across the track to find clear track to work with and she got up in time to win in 1:53.4 over Modern Connection and So Perfect.
The Casie Coleman trainee, who is now 3-for-3 to start her career, is owned by West Wins Stable, Michael La Cova, Joseph La Cova and John Campagnuolo. The connections shelled out a mere $13,000 for the youngster at last year’s Lexington Select Yearling Sale and she has already banked $62,765.
NASSAGAWEYA STAKES – 2CP
1st division - $107,811
Prodigal Seelster, fresh off his win in the Battle of Waterloo at Grand River Raceway on August 2, extended his winning streak to three-in-a-row in the opening split for the duo of driver Tim Tetrick and trainer Dave Menary. The son of Camluck-Platinum Seelster rallied to win despite a power outage which left the track in darkness for approximately the final quarter of the rich event. Rock To Glory finished second and Foreclosure N was third.
The O.R.C. Judges, after speaking with the drivers in the race, made the race official despite the bizarre set of circumstances. Drivers confirmed they all continued to drive their horses right through to the finish, and the O.R.C. Judges were able to determine the order of finish despite the fact that the photo finish equipment and race patrol footage was out of service.
Prodigal Seelster, who is owned by Larry Menary, Denis Breton, Kenneth Ewen and Double Or Nothing Stable, improved his rookie record to 3-0-1 in five tries while boosting his bankroll to $223,206.
The remaining divisions of the Eternal Camnation Stakes and Nassagaweya Stakes will have been rescheduled as non-wagering events on Monday evening at 6 p.m. as a result of a power outage which occured during conduct of Saturday's third race.
To view Saturday’s results, click here.
I had a horse in the
I had a horse in the Nassagaweya Stakes tonight. He was #1 in race 8 -- Mach of Ballykeel. Because of a power outage that race has been rescheduled to Monday night. This same group of colts will be racing in the $1 million Metro eliminations 5 days later on August 28. The situation is almost identical for the fillies entered in the Eternal Camnation.
The decision to force these colts to race twice in a five day period seems unfair on a couple of fronts:
a) These are two year olds. Many have only raced 3-4 times in their life, and now because of an ORC mandate they are being asked to compete at two high level races within 5 days. This could be very taxing on the horses and seems to fly in the face of ORC rules aimed at protecting the animal.
b) Because one division was contested before the power outage, those horses will now have the distinct advantage of
having 2 more days of recovery time before the Metro eliminations.
The Monday races are scheduled as non-betting events, so obviously there will be no pari-mutual benefit from the races. This means the sole purpose for contesting the races, is to determine the purse distribution.
Wouldn't it be easier on everyone if the Monday night plans were scrapped, and the purses were split evenly between the those left to contest the final 4 events?
This decision would:
1) be far easier on the horses
2) more convenient for Mohawk (ie staff on hand earlier/trying to fit 4 more races into the paddock, etc...)
3) be easier on trainers who would be forced to truck the same horses back to Mohawk (if the 401 is passable).
Hoping logic will prevail,
Sincerely,
Cam McKnight