Wiggle It Jiggleit Wires Derby Foes; Beyond Delight Wins Metro

Mohawk Racetrack's $2.4 million Saturday night (September 3) harness racing card featured the Metro Pace, Canadian Pacing Derby and Shes A Great Lady Stakes along with a handful of other Grand Circuit events and Ontario Sires Stakes. Trot Insider has provided coverage of all the action.

Wiggle It Jiggleit Wires Derby Foes

Wiggle It Jiggleit delivered as the heavy 7-5 favourite in the $616,000 Canadian Pacing Derby, defeating a field of heavyweight pacers in wire-to-wire fashion.

Wiggle It Jiggleit and driver Montrell Teague secured the lead off the gate from post one and sprinted a :25.3 first quarter with Nickle Bag (Trevor Henry) following in the pocket and arch-rival Always B Miki (David Miller) firing out from post eight, but forced to take a tuck into a three-hole.

At the half in :54.1, Always B Miki was flushed back out with defending Canadian Pacing Derby champion State Treasurer (Chris Christoforou) on his back and another heavyweight in Shamballa (Rick Zeron) following cover. However, Wiggle It Jiggleit proceeded to three-quarters in 1:21.4 and opened up two lengths on top turning for home.

Wiggle It Jiggleit was strong through the stretch and left his foes chasing him to the wire as he posted a two-length victory in 1:49 flat. Always B Miki was the runner-up while Dealt A Winner (Andy Miller) came on for third after gaining ground along the pylons while the outer flow developed during the race.

"Definitely, you have to take advantage of it when you have it and I showed it tonight -- :25.3, I think everybody got what I was doing," said Montrell Teague of his strategy to control the race leaving from the inside post. "In any other race, I would probably follow 'Miki,' but mine's been on a tear lately so I wanted to let him do all the work.

"Just warming him up, you can tell that he is on his game. He got a little bit grabby coming home so I knew he knew what to do and the track was good."

Owner and horseman George Teague Jr. praised trainer Clyde Francis and his son Montrell
for the management of the triple millionaire Mr Wiggles-Mozzi Hanover gelding, who is now 12-for-19 in his four-year-old campaign.

"Clyde does a great job. I ain't even seen him for the last two weeks so it ain't nothing to do with me," said George Teague. "Clyde Francis does a great job and Montrell managed him his whole career and saved when he could and when he raced him hard, he raced him hard. But that's a big credit to the two of them."

Beyond Delight Wins Metro Pace

Two-year-old pacing colt Beyond Delight left his connections beyond delighted after he rallied home from off the pace to win the $661,000 Metro Pace.

The victory, engineered by driver Sylvain Filion, left locally-based trainer Tony O'Sullivan speechless after he's watched the Bettors Delight-Outtathisworld colt make serious progress on the track over the past month.

Leaving from post three, elimination winner Windsong Napoleon (Phil Hudon) established the early lead while Classic Pro (Randy Waples) fired out from post seven and remained parked out before clearing at the quarter in :26.4.

As Classic Pro took over command, Yannick Gingras had the favoured even-money elimination winner Ocean Colony on the move from fourth and swept to the top on the way to the half in :54.2. Windsong Napolean then tipped back out to challenge with Ideal Wheel (David Miller) moving out to catch his cover and Beyond Delight spotted third over after following in sixth-place early on.

As Ocean Colony continued to front the field to three-quarters in 1:22.4, Ideal Wheel fanned wide around Windsong Napolean and began to close in on the leader entering the stretch. Filion also launched Beyond Delight outside and the colt charged home in :27.3 to steal the spotlight, winning in 1:51.3 by one length. Darlings Dragon (Donald Dupont) came through between horses off a ground-saving trip to finish second ahead of Ideal Wheel and Classic Pro. Ocean Colony rounded out the top five finishers.

A 20-1 maiden-breaking upset winner in his elimination last week, Beyond Delight was sent postward as the 6-1 third choice in Saturday's final and paid $14.70 to win.

"The pace was pretty hot, which was pretty good for us," said Filion, who also won the 2013 Metro with 10-1 upsetter Boomboom Ballykeel. "I was able to get a decent trip and I knew with the way he raced last week, if he could just get a decent trip, we had a good shot at it.

"He kind of shocked me last week. I was hoping he would repeat and he did tonight."

Beyond Delight's victory in the Metro Pace also left his trainer in awe.

"I'm actually speechless. He raced great. It was awesome," said O'Sullivan of his first Metro Pace win on his home track. "Having babies, it's just become very satisfying. And to see this guy, like I said last week, he wasn't one of our better ones early on and he's gotten better and better and that's the the pleasure of training babies and the satisfaction we all get out of it. To cap it off like this, it's unreal. I'm very happy."

Beyond Delight earned his first two victories in the Metro elimination and final, which boosted his bankroll to $370,568 in nine career starts.

"He's always been pretty green and pretty slow to learn," noted O'Sullivan. "In the Dream Maker [Series], he was, I think, third every start and getting better every start and pace quarters and stuff. Taking him to Tioga [for the Geers Stakes] is what really kind of turned the lights on, and he's come a long way in a month, but obviously he's got the gears."

Bred by White Birch Farm, Beyond Delight was purchased for $50,000 as a yearling at the Harrisburg Sale by New York's Jeffrey and Michael Snyder, and New Jersey's Four Friends Racing Stable LLC.

In the $50,000 Metro Consolation, Odds On Delray collared R J P (David Miller) in the final strides for another mild 9-1 upset. Yannick Gingras drove the Somebeachsomewhere-My Little Dragon colt to the 1:51.2 victory for trainer Tony Alagna and Odds On Racing of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Favourite Southwind General (Jody Jamieson) finished third.

Like Mother, Like Daughter

Two-year-old pacing filly Idyllic Beach followed in the hoofprints of her mother Idyllic in winning the $427,000 Shes A Great Lady Stakes.

Driver Yannick Gingras sent the 2-5 favoured elimination winner Idyllic Beach from third to first after the 27-second opening quarter and carved out middle splits of :55.3 and 1:23.2 while Agent Q (David Miller) advanced first over. However, Idyllic Beach kept clear of Agent Q into the stretch and held off that rival at the wire by a half-length in 1:50.3, coming within two-fifths of a second of the world record. Candlelight Dinner (Matt Kakaley) followed Agent Q's cover and finished third.

"I really didn't know going to the gate what I was going to do," said Gingras of his strategy. "The inside three left pretty hard so that made my job easy and that took the outside speed out of the race. At that point, at the eighth pole, I knew I'd be cutting them off."

The Jimmy Takter-trained daughter of Somebeachsomewhere and 2010 Shes A Great Lady champion Idyllic was purchased for $100,000 at the Lexington Selected Yearling Sale and is owned by Takter's wife Christina Takter of East Windsor, New Jersey, along with Toronto's Marvin Katz and John Fielding, and the New Jersey-based Brixton Medical Inc.

"Jimmy knew she was a good filly all the way down," noted Katz. "Every time I'd speak to him in the wintertime, he said this is a top filly. He was confident in her abilities. Just when she started to qualify, he had to get her settled a little bit -- she got a little bit anxious early on -- but he was very confident in her abilities most of the way down."

Idyllic Beach is off to a fabulous start to her racing career with five wins and one second-place finish from six starts for earnings of $316,262.

"It's fantastic," said Katz of the filly's Shes A Great Lady Stakes victory. "It's very difficult to win these types of big races. I know how difficult it is and so this is a real thrill for us.

"I'm always nervous, especially in these big races. No matter how long you've done this, no matter how many times you've done it, you get nervous. You know you need to have every thing go right for you and everything to work it's way out, but she was terrific, she was absolutely terrific."

Pure Country Prevails In Simcoe Stakes

Pure Country prevailed over Darlinonthebeach after a stretch duel in the $215,704 Simcoe Stakes for three-year-old pacing fillies to give driver Yannick Gingras and trainer Jimmy Takter another Saturday Grand Circuit stakes victory.

Avoiding breaker Lay Lady Lay (Doug McNair) while following that filly in fourth after L A Delight (Randy Waples) swept to command following a :26-second opener, Gingras sent Pure Country on the attack down the backstretch. Pure Country cleared at the half in :54.3 with even-money favourite Darlinonthebeach (David Miller) following hot on her heels before taking over. Darlinonthebeach raced on to three-quarters in 1:21.3 and turned for home with Pure Country back out of the pocket. Pure Country engaged Darlinonthebeach in a two-horse breakaway down the stretch and eventually persevered at the wire by a head in a 1:49.2 stakes record performance. Mayhem Seelster (Sylvain Filion) finished third over L A Delight.

Diamond Creek Racing's homebred filly earned her seventh win of the year from 13 starts while equalling her lifetime mark. The daughter of Somebeachsomewhere out of Western Montana has now banked $1.6 million in her career.

"Canada's been good to me," noted Diamond Creek's Adam Bowden. "We won the Breeders Crown last year and Fan Hanover earlier this year.

"She's been racing against the boys and she was a little sick at Pocono, but Darlinonthebeach has been great and they've been head-to-head all year. As you can see tonight, they were right to the wire together."

Bee In Charge, Muscles For Life Upset In Simcoe Trots

Bee In Charge pulled off a 12-1 upset while Muscles For Life was a 25-1 surprise winner in a pair of $104,020 Simcoe Stakes divisions for the three-year-old trotting colts.

The Chris Christoforou-driven Bee In Charge followed Waitlifter K (Matt Kakaley) through panels of :27.1, :57 and 1:25.1 before prevailing from the pocket in a career-best 1:52.4 mile with 39-1 longshot Winter Harbor (Tim Tetrick) coming on for second. The winner's stablemate, Muscle Hustle (Randy Waples), overtook Waitlifter K along the pylons for third. Meanwhile, even-money favourite Sutton broke stride before the first turn.

Per Henriksen trains the Manofmanymissions-Beehive gelding, who now boasts back-to-back victories and wins in six of his 11 sophomore starts for Melvin Hartman of Ottawa, Ont. and David McDuffee of Delray Beach, Florida.

"This horse has just been getting better and better," said Henriksen. "He won handy in the [Ontario Sires Stakes] Gold up there at Georgian and tonight he really showed up."

Driven by Doug McNair for his father's Gregg McNair Stable, Muscles For Life fired to the lead from post seven in his division while Tony Soprano (Steve Condren) broke stride to his outside at the :27.2 first quarter. Dia Monde (Randy Waples) then looped Muscles For Life down the backstretch and carved out middle splits of :56.4 and 1:25.4, but Muscles For Life nosed out that rival at the wire in a career-best clocking of 1:54.4. Taco Tuesday (Tim Tetrick) closed outside to nab second-place honours over Dia Monde in the three-way finish.

Afterwards, Doug McNair admitted that he was shocked to win the race.

"I looked over leaving and there wasn't a lot of leavers so I took a shot at leaving and it worked out good," said the reinsman of his front-end strategy with the longshot winner.

An Ontario Sires Stakes Grassroots champion last season, the Muscle Mass-Serenity Girl colt earned his biggest victory to date and is now three-for-12 in his sophomore season for owner Jarold Hawks of Jeddo, Michigan.

"End of last year, I thought for sure he'd come back to be a Gold colt this year," said Doug McNair. "He raced a good couple of times this year, but he's starting to come around. Last week, he was real good up in Georgian [competing in an Ontario Sires Stakes Gold event]. Tonight, he beat some nice colts so hopefully he's on the right track."

More Gold For Sintra, Betting Line

A pair of $105,000 Ontario Sires Stakes Gold divisions kicked off Saturday's stakes action with the three-year-old pacing colts and geldings competing in their fifth and final leg of the regular season.

Sintra earned his second Gold trophy of the season as driver Jody Jamieson directed him to a career-best triumph for trainer David Menary.

Sent postward as the 1-5 favourite, Sintra looped early leaver Voracity (David Miller) after the :26 opening quarter and cruised to the half in :55.2 and then three-quarters in 1:23 en route to a four-length victory in 1:49.3. Voracity chased Sintra home in second while Nocturnal Bluechip (Tim Tetrick) followed in third.

Sintra entered Saturday's Gold leg ranked third in the Ontario Sires Stakes point standings following a victory in the first leg of the series on May 27 over The Raceway at the Western Fair District and three runner-up efforts to divisional leader Betting Line, who drew in a separate split tonight facing the second-place colt Magnum J.

"We missed Betting Line," said Jamieson of opting for a front-end strategy with Sintra in Saturday's leg. "So anytime you miss Betting Line and even Magnum J for that matter, I'm glad he gets to tango with Betting Line this week instead of the me. I mean those are probably the three best colts in the division right now. It was nice to be able to get back to the lead nice and easy and the horse, he just always responds. He's a real good horse. Hopefully, he stays with this form."

After just three starts as a freshman, the Mach Three-Dancin Barefoot gelding has earned eight wins from 13 sophomore starts and the bulk of his $265,400 bankroll for his Ontario connections, including Brad Gray of Dundas, Michael Guerriero of Brampton, and Menary Racing Inc of Rockton.

In the following division, the top-ranked sophomore Betting Line continued his perfect Sires Stakes season and extended his current win streak to 10 for trainer Casie Coleman.

Driver David Miller had fan favourite Betting Line on the move early and worked to command over Piranha (Trevor Henry), who had out-sprinted Arsenic (Tim Tetrick) through a :26.1 first quarter. The 1-9 bettors' choice cleared at three-eighths and led the field past the half in :54.1 and three-quarters in 1:22.3. Betting Line remained clear on top through the stretch to score the one-length victory in 1:49.3 over Piranha, with Magnum J (Doug McNair) advancing first over into third.

"Dave had the plugs in and didn't speak to him too much coming to the wire so it was a good, easy mile for him and I was real happy with him as I always am," said Coleman, who shares ownership of the Bettors Delight-Heathers Western colt with Burlington's Ross Warriner as the West Wins Stable, along with partners Christine Calhoun of Chatham, and Mac Nichol of Burlington.

With a 10-for-11 seasonal record, Betting Line has boosted his bankroll to $1.7 million during his sophomore campaign.

To view Saturday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Saturday Results - Mohawk Racetrack.