Woodbine Harness: Filion sweeps series finals

The first two stake finals of 2015 took place Friday night at Woodbine Racetrack and it was the Sylvain Filion show.

The veteran reinsman could be poised for another big year, as he took home both the $45,000 Snowshoe Series and $40,000 Blizzard Series finals.

The Snowshoe Series final appeared to be wide-open on paper, as seven different horses won divisions during the first two legs.

Kindofabigdeal and Filion came into Friday’s final as the most consistent horse in the ten-horse field and left with another big effort.

The Richard Moreau trainee got the cue to leave hard from Filion and sprinted out to the quick lead, but was quickly challenged for the front by A Boy Named Suuzz.

Filion allowed the outside challenger to clear and got a perfect two-hole trip for Kindofabigdeal.

Kindofabigdeal sat patiently in the pocket until Filion made his move at the top of the lane.

In the stretch, Kindofabigdeal overtook the lead by the eighth-pole and paced away to win in 1:53 3/5. Bad Bug came on late to make it close and finish second by half a length, while A Boy Named Suuzz held on to hit the board in third.

A four-year-old son of No Pan Intended, Kindofabigdeal has been on a roll over the last few months at Woodbine, but has recently been unable to come through in series finals.

The Moreau trainee won a leg of the Autumn Series, but finished second in the November final. Last month, Kindofabigdeal won the opening two legs of the Valedictory, but finished third as the favorite in the Boxing Day finale.

The pacer now has seven career wins from 13 starts and pushes his bankroll over $88,000 for owner Hudson Standrdbrd Stb Inc.

Kindofabigdeal paid $5.70

In the Blizzard Series final, heavy favorite Artistic Fusion completed the series sweep with a 1:54 4/5 victory.

Trained by Joe Agostino, Artistic Fusion and Filion got away in fourth and came first up down the backstretch to challenge the leader A Fearless Affair.

Those two mares would battle side-by-side past the three-quarter pole in 1:25 2/5, but Artistic Fusion was too much to handle for A Fearless Affair in the lane.

Artistic Fusion wasted no time leaving her rivals behind and cruised home to win by 2 3/4 lengths. Badlands Love got up for second, while A Fearless Affair dug in to finish third.

A four-year-old daughter of Artistic Fella, Artistic Fusion has been firing on all cylinders over the last few months in series action.

The Agostino trainee won the Autumn Series final in November, finished second in the Niagara Series final on Boxing Day and has now swept the Blizzard Series.

Artistic Fusion surpassed the $100,000 mark in career earnings with her eighth career win Friday night for owner Mike Foote.

She returned $2.60 to win.

--edited release (WEG)