Three-year-olds will be out in full force at Mohawk Racetrack on Friday and Saturday evening as the Campbellville, ON oval will host the eliminations for this year's Canadian Breeders Championships.
The fillies, both trotters and pacers, will take to the track on Friday evening and the colts and geldings will strut their stuff on Saturday night. Post time is set for 7:30 p.m. on both evenings.
There were 15 pacing fillies entered for Friday's elims, with the top five finishers from each elim advancing to the final.
The second elim, which carries a purse of $36,118, is overloaded with talent.
Im Just Special, the most recent OSS Gold Series champion, will take on the likes of World Record holder Voelz Hanover, Ontario Sired Spring Series winner Has An Attitude and Shake That Junk, fresh off a 1:54.2 track record performance at Grand River Raceway.
A total of 38 trotting fillies had their names stuffed into the entry box, and they've been sorted into four eliminations. The top two finishers from each split and a pair of third-place finishers will advance to the final.
Somebody To Love, who captured the first OSS Gold Series Final of the season, will return to Mohawk Racetrack looking to rekindle some of that magic for trainer Darren McCall.
Other notables in the trotting filly category are Only Lonely, Ms Naughty and Condi Lane. All three of them were recent winners in the Bud Light Stakes at Flamboro Downs.
A total of 16 trotting colts and geldings will do battle in a pair of $35,726 elims on Saturday evening, with the top five finishers from each tilt earning a berth into next week's rich final.
B Strike Three, fresh off a dominant Canadian record performance in the Gold Series Final at Georgian Downs, will start from Post 7 in the first elimination for the duo of trainer Raz MacKenzie and driver Rick Zeron.
Despite only 13 entries, a pair of $35,533 eliminations will be contested for the pacing colts and geldings. The top five finishers from each contest will earn the right to race in next week's final.
Keystone Horatio and The Mohegan Pan, who finished first and second, respectively, in the OSS Gold Final at Georgian Downs on June 28, will renew their rivalry in the second elimination.
All four of the Canadian Breeders Championship Finals will take place at Mohawk Racetrack on Saturday, July 26. The finals will get national TV coverage on the Score from 8:30 – 10:00 p.m.