Ocean Storm rallied to victory in the William Wellwood Memorial, and Athenas Girl motored clear in the stretch to capture the Peaceful Way Stakes in the Grade 1 events for two-year-old trotters on Saturday, Aug. 29 at Woodbine Mohawk Park.
Ocean Storm swept down the centre of the track off a covered ride and charged to equal the stakes record with a 1:52.4 victory in the $570,000 Wellwood Memorial for trainer Cameron Capone.
With elimination winner Gios Hope (Dexter Dunn) breaking stride after the start, Honcho (Doug McNair) and Free Scottie (James MacDonald) hustled from wide draws to the fore with Detonater Hanover (Tyler Moore), the other elimination winner, easing into third through a :26.4 first quarter. Honcho planted on the point into the backstretch but soon faced pressure as Detonater Hanover tipped out and looped to the lead before a :56.2 half, at which point Top Reacher (Scott Zeron) angled outside from sixth to lead the outer tier to the final turn. Ocean Storm caught cover and followed Top Reacher’s tow through the last turn. Driver Yannick Gingras fanned off cover with Ocean Storm just after three-quarters in 1:24.4 and sent the colt bearing down on the duelling leaders in the stretch. Ocean Storm surged past his rivals in the final 1/16th of a mile and won by three-quarters of a length over Access Now (Bob McClure), who split horses late to take second. Top Reacher grabbed third.
“I was really impressed with him in the elimination last week,” said Gingras, who won for the fifth time in the Wellwood after first scoring in the 2010 edition and winning three straight from 2013 to 2015. “He was loaded with trot, moved from the rail to three high and in a couple of strides stormed home. I kind of liked my spot – I figured maybe Dex would re-move or maybe [I would sit] third over behind two Melander horses. It’s just his third lifetime start; I didn’t want to do anything too fancy with him. By the seven-eighths pole, I felt pretty confident. I was inching by them and my horse was still trotting. It definitely feels special to win for [Cameron] Capone – his brother is like a second brother to us and we go a long way.”
“He came along great, really nothing wrong with him,” Capone said after the race. “We had a bit of trouble once we put the hopples on because he was racing in New York, so I just wanted to put hopples on. But once we took them off, he’s been all trot. Top of the lane, second over… we were both licking our chops, I think. It was awesome to have [Yannick] do it because I have a lot of trust in him and so do the owners, so it was great.”
Winning the second race from three starts in his career, Ocean Storm has now earned $302,489 for owners ADH Holdings LLC of Auburn, N.Y., Paul Kautz of Franklin Lakes, N.J., Jeff Gural of New York, N.Y. and Jean Pierre Barjon of Paris, France. His 1:52.4 mile – a lifetime best – equals the stakes record set by Alarm Detector in 2017 and matched by Ardonne in 2025.
“After start number one, we knew we had something special,” said Mike Butler of ADH Holdings. “The group came together late; we came into this horse late in the season, and it’s been nothing but pleasurable. This horse has really come along, and I don’t even think we know what this horse is capable of yet. It’s absolutely unbelievable. I knew last week we were going to win tonight, it was no question. We knew we would. Coming into it, we knew we had something special we just didn’t know what we had. At the end of that elimination, we knew tonight was going to be our night.”
Sent off as the favourite in the betting, Ocean Storm paid $5.50 to win.
Odds-on favourite Athenas Girl grabbed command early and edged away under a hand drive to crush her rivals in the $425,000 Grade 1 Peaceful Way final for fillies.
Driver Dexter Dunn floated Athenas Girl off the wings as City Of Light (Scott Zeron) rushed out of post nine to cross over the field and take an early lead. Athenas Girl steadily marched up to sweep past City Of Light to the top through a :27.2 first quarter and settled on the point. She strode unfazed to the half in :57.2 and gradually gathered speed in the last turn as Loves Passion (James MacDonald) inched uncovered towards the leader. Past three-quarters in 1:25.3, Athenas Girl straightened and peeled clear of her rivals to cross the finish a geared-down winner by 3-1/2 lengths in a lifetime-best 1:53 mile. Verily (Louis-Philippe Roy) snagged second from a ground-saving trip with Dataprivacy (Bob McClure) rallying down the centre of the track for third.
“She felt so good last week – a little grizzly out of the gate [this week] and around the first turn, but once she got the front, she was really happy and was cruising the whole way, really,” said Dunn, who nabbed his first victory in the Peaceful Way. “She was just completely cruising. She had her ears pricked coming off the last turn and I had a big hold of her, and she cruised up the straight as well. She’s a real nice filly. The feeling she gave me tonight, she could’ve gone a lot quicker. Two-year-olds take a little time to find their groove and find their confidence, but this filly’s got it right now.”
A filly by Walner-Fashion Athena, Athenas Girl scored her third win from six starts and has now banked $245,106 for owner Brad Grant of Milton, Ont. The Marcus Melander trainee has also won three straight since adding trotting hopples, which Melander opted to equip after she broke in her first three starts in New Jersey Sire Stakes at The Meadowlands.
“It was frustrating because training down I don’t think she made one single break around our half-mile track, not even at The Meadowlands,” said Melander, who also won for the first time in the Peaceful Way. “Then she just started with those breaks and it was very frustrating. I didn’t think she needed the hopples, but I think she just needed the confidence back after one or two breaks because she’s good gaited and a good horse, obviously. Training down she felt like one of our best ones, but we had a bump in the road with all those breaks. We finally got her right.”
Athenas Girl returned $2.70 to win.
Woodbine Mohawk Park also hosted the eliminations for the Canadian Pacing Derby and divisions of the Eternal Camnation and the Nassagaweya on Saturday.
To view Saturday's harness racing results, click the following link: Saturday Results - Woodbine Mohawk Park.
(Woodbine)