On Thursday, February 20, Woodbine Entertainment announced that the inaugural Mohawk Million for two-year-old trotters will officially be contested on Saturday, September 26, 2020 at Woodbine Mohawk Park.
The deadline to purchase one of nine slots in the Mohawk Million was February 18, 2020 and Woodbine has received purchase contracts to fill all slots. A $55,000 payment was required by the February 18, 2020 deadline and those that receive slots will be required to submit a second $55,000 payment by June 1.
“We are thrilled to announce that the inaugural Mohawk Million is officially moving ahead,” said Jim Lawson, CEO of Woodbine Entertainment. “On behalf of our board of directors and our fans, thank you to the owners who are helping make this innovative event a reality. We are confident that this race is going to be a huge success and we hope that it will become a staple on the Woodbine Mohawk Park stakes calendar.”
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Woodbine will not be releasing the final number of purchasers or names at this time, in order to allow any additional purchase contracts and cheques submitted by mail to arrive.
Woodbine asks that any owners who have mailed a purchase contract and have not received confirmation of its arrival to immediately contact Bill McLinchey, director of racing, at [email protected].
The final number of purchasers and next steps regarding slot distribution will be announced in the coming week.
The Mohawk Million is a $1 million (USD) harness race for two-year-old trotters that follows a buy-in formula. The race has ten slots with nine available for purchase at a cost of $110,000. The tenth and final slot will be awarded to the winner of the William Wellwood Memorial, which will be contested on Saturday, September 12, 2020.
The Mohawk Million will take place on Saturday, September 26, 2020 at Woodbine Mohawk Park in Milton, Ontario and will become Canadian harness racing’s richest race of the season.
(Woodbine Entertainment)
Since pacing is more popular
Since pacing is more popular than trotting in North America, I think it would make much more sense to make this a race for pacers. Granted, pacing already has The Metro, but trotting already has The Wellwood. Also, there's nothing particular about this race which will generate excitement about it to horseplayers. The purse is $1 million, but so what? That money goes to the owners, not to the fans. Devise a race in which a FAN will receive $1 million, or even a fraction of that amount, and it's a completely different story.