Global Access sets new course record in Ontario Derby

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Global Access ($6.40) lowered Woodbine’s nine-furlong synthetic track record with a dominating victory in Saturday’s $125,500 Ontario Derby.

Global Access tracked the leading favorite, Avie’s Flatter, through honest fractions under Patrick Husbands, who won the other Grade 3 stakes on the card aboard another Maryland shipper, The Great Day.

Global Access assumed command entering the stretch and held sway en route to a 1 1/4-length win over 10-1 outsider Armistice Day. Jungle Fighter finished a clear third over Solidify, while Avie’s Flatter faded to fifth under Eurico Da Silva in the six-horse field of 3-year-olds.

The final time of 1:48.24 was .06 faster than the previous record, set by Amis Gizmo in the 2016 Ontario Derby.

It was the third Grade 3 stakes score of the year for Global Access, who is arguably the leading contender for Canadian champion male 3-year-old honors. He had won his previous race on the grass in the Saranac Stakes at Saratoga.

“Eurico was on the class horse, and I wasn’t going to let him get things his way,” Husbands said. “My horse carried 124 pounds. I’m not scared of that. I was on the best horse, so I just kept pressuring the whole way, and when I asked him, he gave me everything.”

Global Access, a flashy Giant’s Causeway colt trained by Mike Trombetta, earned $75,000 for Live Oak Plantation.