Breeders Crown: Ontario stallions look to keep the spotlight in rich finals

Ontario-based stallions made their presence felt in last week's Breeders Crown eliminations, with not only established sires like Kadabra and Muscle Mass collecting victories from their progeny, but also lesser-knowns Archangel and Holiday Road.

Since Bee A Magician retired, Kadabra's most consistent Grand Circuit star has been Emoticon Hanover, who will be back to defend her Breeders Crown Open Mare Trot title after knocking off Ariana G in one of two eliminations for the group last Saturday night. Although Kadabra will hit the age of 20 next year, he shows no signs of slowing down.

"He's been one of the top, top sires in the sport for a quite a few years now," offered Matt Harrison, farm manager at Tara Hills Stud. "He's a perfect out-cross sire, which I think is probably something that really appealed to Peter Heffering when he bought him. His impact is going to remain long after his siring career is done. He's turning 20 in 2019, so we're hoping to have a few years out of him and breeding mares."

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Muscle Mass had year-long stars Plunge Blue Chip (3-Year-Old Filly Trot) and Six Pack (3-Year-Old Colt and Gelding Trot) both post Crown elimination scores. While they are both New York-sired, Muscle Mass was moved back to Ontario at Tara Hills for the 2017 breeding season. While he's always been a solid sire no matter where the location is, he's now proven his progeny can go with the top names in the game.

"You always have to have that one or those two that really show on the Grand Circuit-level of racing," remarked Harrison. "Now Muscle Mass has those horses on his resume with Plunge Blue Chip and Six Pack."

Holiday Road, who stands at Seelster Farms in Lucan, Ontario, has been a solid Ontario Sires Stakes producer through the years, and has also had the likes of Hemi Seelster, who graduated from that program and went on to a nice aged career at the Open level at Yonkers Raceway. However, Holiday Road really got a chance to shine on the Grand Circuit when his Champagne Jane kicked off the Crown festivities Friday night with an upset win in the first 2-Year-Old Filly Trot elimination.

"It's great. It means a lot to him to have a Grand Circuit win like that," said Walter Parkinson, assistant farm manager at Seelster Farms. "There are a lot of high-end fillies that she was able to beat. We definitely look forward to watching this week's final and hopefully she can win it, or if not, be a big part of it.

"Holiday Road is a big, strapping, good-looking horse. He's nice to work with and nice to be around. He's always had a fair bit of success here in Ontario from breeding the smaller books. When you look at sires like Kadabra and Muscle Mass, over the years they have taken a lot of mares, but he's always done quite well. This year was no different. He had Champagne Jane, Sorceress Seelster, and Gold winning horses like Henderson Seelster as well. He continues to put out some nice individuals that go on."

Like Muscle Mass, Archangel was also shifted from New York to Ontario, starting with the 2016 breeding season. He's looking for his resume-maker or makers like Muscle Mass has now gotten, but certainly sweeping the Breeders Crown Open Trot eliminations with Guardian Angel As and Top Flight Angel will shine at least a bit of a spotlight on his ability.

"Archangel stamps them for sure. They sure look the part - big, long, leggy, good-looking horses," Winbak Farm yearling manager Jim Ladwig noted. "So far they've gone and proved that they're going to do it.

"It's got to help - having winners out there always helps for sure. People like them if they're winning. They'll definitely give them a second look and give them some respect."

These Ontario stallions will be looking for an even bigger feather in their respective caps when the finals go behind the gate at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono on Saturday night.