For the second straight Saturday night at Woodbine Mohawk Park, Green Manalishi S looked like a man racing against boys.
Green Manalishi S steamrolled over the foes he faced for the duo of driver Tim Tetrick and trainer Marcus Melander.
Tetrick took a brief tuck into third with the favourite, but he had him rolling as soon as the field hit the backstretch. After Swandre The Giant threw down the opening quarter in :28.2, Green Manalishi S shot to the lead and carved out middle fractions of :57.1 and 1:25.3. He then used a :28.1 closing quarter to win by three lengths over Smart As Hill in 1:53.4. Okeanos rounded out the top three finishers.
“That was really fun,” said Tetrick. “First off, I just want to say it’s a great honour to win the Wellwood race. A great family and proud to get to win this race.
“I was going to go ahead and go,” added Tetrick. “I wanted to get through the first turn clear and safe. Down the backside, I let him trot. We got a good half and from there it was his race to win or lose. He’s special. He trots beautiful and he acts like an eight-year-old out there. He loves his work. Marcus and the crew have done a great job with him. He makes me look really good out there.”
“We’ll ship him down to Lexington next week and he’s going to race there one or two times,” noted trainer Marcus Melander. “We’ve got the Breeders Crown left and I think we have the Vallley Victory as well. But we’ll take one race at a time. He’s a very nice horse.”
The two-year-old son of Muscle Hill-Naga Morich is owned by Courant Inc of Delray Beach, FL. From six starts the colt has manufactured a 4-2-0 record while piling up earnings of $350,357.