Twelve of the province’s top three-year-old pacing colts and geldings trekked to Elora, Ontario on Tuesday evening for a set of $40,000 Ontario Sires Stakes Gold Series
eliminations, and fans were treated to a track record performance.
The setter of the momentous mile was Primary Purpose, who toured the oval in 1:52.4 for driver Mark MacDonald and trainer Casie Coleman. The clocking shaved one-fifth of a second off the former record set by Wholly Louy on June 26, 2007.
MacDonald hustled the son of Cammibest-Sing Mitzi For Me to immediate command from post six, and the gelding had no problem rolling the field through fractions of :27.1, :56 and 1:25.1. He finished off his foes with a :27.3 final frame in the 1:52.4 affair. Thepaninsulahotel tagged along every step of the way to finish second while Its A Good Thing rounded out the top three.
Rod Therres of Surrey, who bred the pacer, and Charles MacFarlane of Victoria, BC share ownership on the career winner of $269,699. After going 7-for-7 as a rookie, Primary Purpose improved his 2009 record to 6-4-1 in 16 starts with the win.
After letting late leads slip away in a pair of previous assignments, OK Boromir found his way to the winner’s circle thanks in part to a second-over journey engineered by driver Luc Ouellette. The son of No Pan Intended-Double Crème tucked into fifth in the early stages of the mile while Rescue Plan put up early fractions of :27 and :56.1.
Lyons Horace put serious pressure on the leader in the third quarter and came away with a short lead at the three-quarter pole in 1:25.2. OK Boromir was perfectly spotted behind the first-over prompter, and he when called on to do so he blasted by that foe by using a :28.1 closing panel. That was good enough for OK Boromir to grab the lead and hold off Fast Pay by a half-length margin in the 1:54.1 affair. Power Off, who was sent off as a 52-1 outsider, was third.
Trainer Frank Baker, Jr., who co-owns the colt with Wray and Janet Wilson of Thorndale, ON, watched his star student pick up his fifth win of the season and the seventh of his career. The $20,000 payday brings this year’s bankroll to $263,074, while his lifetime total climbed to $365,874.
The top four finishers from each of the eliminations will return to contest the final next Tuesday evening. The post position order for the final is as follows:
$130,000 OSS Gold Series Final
1. Barn Art
2. OK Boromir
3. Its A Good Thing
4. Fast Pay
5. Power Off
6. Thepaninsulahotel
7. Lyons Horace
8. Primary Purpose
To view Tuesday’s harness racing results, click here.
Interested in the status of
Interested in the status of 3 year old pacer, Keep It Real, Trained by Joey Shea, and driven by Brian Sears. He has not races since the Adios on 8/1/09, and I wondering if maybe he was hurt. I live in Delaware, Ohio and hoped to see him in the Jug.