Trainer Gregg McNair sent out three winners on Thursday, Sept. 24 at Woodbine Mohawk Park, with Barbara May the headliner via a blowout victory in a $32,000 co-featured trot for Ontario Sires Stakes (OSS) Grassroots and Prospect Series competitors.
The daughter of Alarm Detector-Absolut Seelster took her sophomore filly rivals all the way, cutting :26.4 and :55.3 fractions before starting her march away from the field going to three-quarters in 1:24. The filly swelled her lead down the lane and rolled to the line a 5-3/4-length winner in a lifetime-best 1:52. Elbows Up (Jonathan Drury) finished well for second, followed by Hallysgurl (Trevor Henry). Barbara May, a winner in the Grassroots this year, improved to three-for-13 this season and four-for-22 lifetime with $196,305 earned for Tom and Elizabeth Rankin of St. Catharines, Ont. She paid $7.70 to win.
Doug McNair piloted Barbara May and also steered a pair of two-year-old trotting fillies to maiden victories for his father. Jyn Erso ($6.40) scored in 1:54.4 for team McNair and Brad Grant of Milton, Ont. in the third race, and R Rosie stopped the clock in 1:55.3 for the Rankins in the seventh. Gregg McNair has racked up 105 wins this year — his third straight triple-digit-victory season — and has a 17.6 per cent win rate. He also leads in the Johnston Cup race for the title of top trainer in the OSS.
Stormont Shanlyboy ($5.20) took the other co-feature, a $32,000 event for three-year-old trotters who have started in the Grassroots or Prospect Series, for driver Tyler Jones and trainer Kevin Benn. The gelded son of Muscle Mass-Lady Grenville won by three lengths in 1:53.1 for owner Stormont Meadows of Long Sault, Ont.
To view Thursday’s harness racing results, click the following link: Thursday Results - Woodbine Mohawk Park.
(Standardbred Canada)