Thursday’s Ontario Sires Stakes event at Mohawk Racetrack will mark the end of the trail for many of the province’s two-year-old pacing colts and three-year-old pacing fillies, but trainer Dave Menary is hoping King Royalty and Macharoundtheclock are not among those hanging up their equipment bags Friday morning.
Only the top 10 point earners from the freshman pacing colt Grassroots division and the sophomore pacing filly Gold Series division will advance to their respective Grassroots Championship and Super Final later this month. Heading into Thursday’s contest King Royalty is 10 points short of a berth in the post season and Macharoundtheclock is 14.
King Royalty comes into the regular season finale off a 1:58.4 victory at Dresden Raceway in the Sept. 2 Grassroots event, giving him a record of one win, two thirds, one sixth and one seventh through the first five legs for a total of 79 points. The Classic Card Shark son makes his bid for a second victory from Post 4 in the ninth race, facing just one colt ranked ahead of him in the standings, Major Homer at Post 1.
Cheltenham resident Menary shares ownership of King Royalty with his father Larry Menary of Cheltenham and Michael Guerriero of Puslinch.
Macharoundtheclock will benefit from Post 2 in the tenth race, but the filly faces a stiff test in her quest for a top two finish. Among the contenders in the second Gold Series division are second ranked Jan It Jackson at Post 1, sixth-ranked Seaside Rory at Post 7, seventh-ranked Leaveumlady at Post 5 and last year’s Super Final champion Love Canal at Post 6.
The Mach Three daughter comes into the final Gold Series test off a 1:54.2 qualifier over the Mohawk oval that was required when she made a break and was pulled up by driver Jody Jamieson in the Aug. 26 Gold event at Grand River Raceway. Prior to that outing Macharoundtheclock had finished second in the Mid-Summer Challenge and second in the July 1 Gold leg, both at Mohawk, but points were not awarded in the Mid-Summer Challenge leaving the filly with just 25 on her resume.
The Menarys share ownership of Macharoundtheclock with Kenneth Ewen of Georgetown and Denis Breton of Welland.
Post time for Mohawk Racetrack’s Thursday evening program is 7:25 p.m. and the two-year-old pacing colts will wrap up their Grassroots regular season in Races 2, 5, 7, 9, and 11, while the three-year-old pacing fillies bring their Gold Series season to a close in Races 6 and 10.
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To view entries for Thursday's card of harness racing, click the following link: Thursday Entries – Mohawk Racetrack.