The Ontario Sires Stakes Gold Series for trotters made its fifth and final stop on the path to the Super Finals with five races contested on the Monday evening, Sept. 30 card at Woodbine Mohawk Park.
Monalishi opened up the action in the $140,000 fifth leg for freshman trotting fillies. James MacDonald and Blake MacIntosh teamed up to send the Green Manalishi S-Pretty Phylly G filly to the gate in post two in the field of nine. She got away fifth and worked her way up first-over after the quarter in :28, through the half in :57.4 and three-quarters in 1:26.3, to the wire to win by a head in 1:54.3. Lil Sweet (Doug McNair) followed her cover to finish second and Foxy Amee (Paul MacDonell) completed the show ticket.
"She was just kind of cruising and I was letting her do her thing, and right before the wire, she just kind of let up, but then she heard Doug getting close and she took off again," said MacDonald. "She just makes you sweat it out, but she's a great filly and she's just got a nose for the wire. Hopefully she just keeps doing that."
MacIntosh co-owns Monalishi with Tim Klemencic as the filly moved her record to 6-1-0 in nine starts. Monalishi boasts $495,311 in her young career already. She paid $2.20 as the heavily backed favourite.
James MacDonald doubled up in OSS Gold victories with the Kyle Fellows-trained Willys Home Run in a division, worth $140,000, for the sophomore trotting fillies. In their field of six, Willys Home Run briefly took second through the opening panel in :28, but she was quickly on the move to the top. The Archangel-Rite Outa The Park filly took command and controlled the timer with quarters in :56.3 and 1:24.3 before charging home to win by three-quarters of a length in a new career mark of 1:53. P L Rainbow Dash (Bob McClure) was second and No One (McNair) was third.
"She was great. It was a big mile and she dug in late, she just did everything she needed to do," said MacDonald. "I think when she comes off a helmet, she's got a big kick and when she's on the front, she'll fight them, but you kind of have to work it out of her."
Dr. Sara Gatchell, Jake Higgs, Reg Higgs and Yolanda Fellows co-own Willys Home Run as the filly notched her third win in 10 starts this year, producing earnings of $270,200 on the season. In her 20-start career, she has earned $794,135 to go along with a record of 9-7-1. Willys Home Run paid $5 to win at 3-2 odds.
The lone split for the freshman trotting colts and geldings, with a $140,000 purse, had You Got It Kemp fend off his foes to win by a measured length in 1:55. Sylvain Filion was in the bike of the Muscle Mass-Speed Titan gelding as he took the early lead and set the tempo with the quarter in :27.4. He relinquished the lead through the half in :56.4, but was out again before the three-quarters in 1:25.4, at which point he zoomed to take back command and never look back, aiming for home. Galen Erso (McNair) finished second and the late-driving longshot, Chicago Hall (Chris Christoforou), picked up third.
"He feels great," said Filion. "The only thing with him is he doesn't like the front end. He'll try to pull up, that's what he did tonight, so I was happy to see Tyler [Borth with Rising Interest] move on me. I was able to follow him to the top of the stretch and then make my move."
Brady, Brooke, and Daniel Lagace co-own You Got It Kemp with Suojalampi Stable Inc. Trained by Daniel Lagace, the gelding altered his lifetime record to 4-1-0 in five starts with the new lifetime mark in the mile. You Got It Kemp has earned $228,167 in his young career. He paid $3.70 to win.
What About Elmo captured the first of two $95,000 Gold divisions for sophomore trotting colts and geldings. Driven by Tyler Jones, the Paul Reid student got away third, waited until the three-quarters and unloaded to go onto win by 1-3/4 lengths in 1:52.4. Ways N Means (McNair) finished second with Captain Wania (Trevor Henry) third.
"He's just a good horse, it's that simple," said Jones. "He was sick at Grand River [in the last Gold leg on Aug. 14] and I moved him first-over, he didn't race good, so it's been a project every week to just get a little closer for the last four or five weeks. Every week, I came off the bike and told Paul that he's getting closer and closer to where we need him and tonight he showed it."
Reid co-owns the Il Sogno Dream-Erin Hall gelding with Leonard Christopher, D. Jeffrey Nicol and Brian Kleinberg. Surpassing the six-figure mark for the season, What About Elmo won his fourth race in 14 starts this year and fifth career race in 23 starts. His lifetime sum climbed to $198,138. The final time was a career best for the gelding. At 6-1 odds, he paid $13.50 to win.
Completing the OSS Gold action in the second $95,000 split for the three-year-old males, Paquet and Jody Jamieson left from post eight, sat third through the :27.3 quarter and then took over all the way to a 2-1/2-length score in 1:53.1. Masstercraft (Henry) finished second and Soar Higher (MacDonald) finished third.
"He's named after the great Brian Paquet, who we lost a year ago in September," noted Jamieson. "It's a great name and it needed a great horse to carry that name and I think we've done that. I'm very proud of the horse. He did it so easily. He's learning, I think it's only his sixth lifetime start. He's just been awesome and we just love him so much."
Carl Jamieson trains the Muscle Mass-Darjeeling colt, who he co-owns with Estate of Brian Paquet, 1140545 Ontario Ltd., and Douglas Good. Paquet has made six career starts with three of those wins in addition to a second, third and fifth. The win was a career best time for the colt and pushed his earnings to $165,265. He paid $2.30 to win.
The Gold Series regular season will wrap up with the final legs for the two-year-old pacing fillies and colts on Thursday, Oct. 3 at Mohawk. The eight divisional Super Finals will be contested on Oct. 12.
To view Monday's harness racing results, click the following link: Monday Results - Woodbine Mohawk Park.
(Standardbred Canada)