Fast Pay utilized his patented closing kick to perfection on Tuesday evening at Grand River Raceway en route to capturing his third $130,000 Ontario Sires Stakes Gold Series final of the 2009 campaign
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The Dave Menary-trained three-year-old son of Western Terror-Speedy Shopper has racked up those victories over three different sized ovals – the first one over Rideau Carleton Raceway’s five-eighths mile oval followed by an all-time OSS record-setting score over Mohawk Racetrack’s seven-eights mile strip leading up to tonight’s half-mile triumph.
Paul MacDonell was in no hurry in Tuesday’s tilt with Fast Pay, who was allowed to settle into the six-hole while Its A Good Thing hammered out big splits of :27.1, :55.4 and 1:25. The pacesetter was pestered by OK Boromir from the mid-way point until the head of the lane, and that took the wind out of the sails of both pacers.
MacDonell had Fast Pay sitting third over as the field toured the backstretch for the final time, and when called on to go three wide the colt responded and used a :29.1 final quarter to post the one-length decision in a time of 1:54.4. Lyons Horace, who saved ground throughout, found late room and rallied to finish second. Thepaninsulahotel tagged along to finish third.
Larry Menary, Denis Breton, Phil Silvestri and Joseph Settimi share ownership on Fast Pay, who has put together a 6-3-1 record in 15 starts this season after going 2-3-1 in 10 tries as a rookie. He finished his freshman campaign with more than $58,000 in earnings, and he has added another $332,504 this season to bring his lifetime total to $391,420.
To view Tuesday’s harness racing results, click here.