Fresh off her Jugette victory last week in Ohio, L A Delight returned to her home province and resumed her undefeated Ontario Sires Stakes career in the fifth and final Gold Series leg of the season for three-year-old pacing fillies on Friday night (September 30) at Mohawk Racetrack.
Driven by Randy Waples in the first of two $105,000 divisions, L A Delight looped the :26.1 first quarter sprinter, Divas Image (Joe Bongiorno), at the three-eighths mark and reached the half in :55.4. She then cruised to three-quarters in 1:23.4 and paced away down the stretch to a blow out victory in 1:50.3. Longshot Windsun Glory (Doug McNair) came on for second over Divas Image.
Hall of Fame trainer Bob McIntosh's homebred Bettors Delight-West Of L A filly now boasts 10 wins in as many starts in the provincial program over the past two seasons. She's earned $522,000 of her $1.2 million career bankroll in Sires Stakes events for Robert McIntosh Stables Inc., C S X Stables and Al McIntosh Holdings Inc.
Sent postward as the overwhelming betting favourite at odds of 1-5, L A Delight paid $2.60 to win.
L A Delight will look to complete her perfect Ontario Sires Stakes career in the season-ending Super Finals, which are set for Saturday, October 15 at Mohawk. She also has the Breeders Crown and Matron Stakes among her late-season stakes engagements.
In the other division, Mayhem Seelster earned her first Gold trophy of the season with a wire-to-wire effort in rein to Sylvain Filion.
The Mach Three-Macapelo Rose filly led the field through panels of :27, :57 and 1:24.1 while shaking off first-over challenger Cracklin Rosie (Doug McNair) en route to the 1:52.1 triumph. Lay Lady Lady (Chris Christoforou), who sits second behind L A Delight in the OSS divisional point standings, followed one and three-quarter lengths behind off a pocket trip to finish second while Bourbon Seelster (Mike Saftic) closed from the backfield for third-place honours.
Tony O'Sullivan trains Mayhem Seelster, who earned her second win in a row and third of the season from 14 starts for owner Domenic Chiaravalle. She now has eight career wins and a bankroll nearing $380,000.
Mayhem Seelster paid $5 to win as the 3-2 favourite.
In regular racing action, the weekly $34,000 Preferred Trot was won by 3-2 favourite Windsun Revenge and driver Rick Zeron.
Windsun Revenge out-sprinted near-millionaire Whiskey Tax (Randy Waples) for the lead heading to the first turn and put up a :26.4 first quarter. Arriving at the half in :56.1, Etruscan Hanover (Mario Baillargeon) launched his first-over attack from mid-pack and put the pressure on the race leader to three-quarters in 1:25. The front-end duel continued down the stretch with Windsun Revenge persevering at the inside by half a length in 1:53.1.
The Maple Leaf Trot competitor paid $5.10 to win. Etruscan Hanover settled for second while Intimidate (James MacDonald) rallied off cover to finish third.
Windsun Revenge now has three wins from 12 starts in his five-year-old campaign. The Kadabra-Oaklea Polly gelding is owned by breeder Robert Van Camp and trainer Jeff Durham.
To view Friday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Friday Results - Mohawk Racetrack.
What a Mare!!!!
What a Mare!!!!