Woodbine Mohawk Park: Atlanta turns in record performance in Armbro Flight

Despite cool and misty weather, Atlanta burned rubber in the C$256,000 Armbro Flight final for trotting mares on Saturday night at Woodbine Mohawk Park, turning in a 1:50 2/5 mile. That clocking is the fastest mile ever trotted north of the border, breaking the previous mark of 1:50 3/5 set just last week by Hannelore Hanover.

Hannelore Hanover (Matt Kakaley) was going for her fourth straight win in the Armbro Flight, but she saw her chances take a major blow when she got limbed out by Emoticon Hanover (Bob McClure) past the 26 3/5 opening quarter and almost to the half, which went up on the board in a swift 54 1/5. Atlanta (Yannick Gingras) had been watching that transpire from fifth, but Gingras had his mare out and on the move as Hannelore Hanover crossed over.

Within a matter of strides, Atlanta had joined and then surged past Hannelore Hanover, and she was on a clear lead at the 1:23 three-quarters. It appeared it would be all academic from there, but Atlanta began to drift out through the lane, opening the door for 69-1 shot Weslynn Dancer (David Miller), who had tracked her cover from second-over before losing it, to take a shot at her. Atlanta had something left, though, repelling Weslynn Dancer's inside advance to win by half a length. Top Expectations (Daniel Dube) was third, Emoticon Hanover took fourth, and Hannelore Hanover had to settle for fifth.

"It was unreal. Of course I came on a horse that got stretched out pretty good, so I felt really confident," said Gingras. "In the last turn I really had a handful of trot, and I came, and she can trot the turns faster than she can trot the straightaway. I just turned her loose, but the acceleration she had, I think, was unreal really. She went from zero to 60 in three strides. She's an amazing mare.

"Hopefully we have a great year this year, and I'm already looking forward to next year."

Despite the record mile, Gingras said some equipment changes to keep Atlanta from drifting out the way she did tonight are in order.

"She's been actually a little bit drifting out. If you watch last week she was a little bit, but she ran in her whole life, so she's rigged to stop her from running in," he explained. "We took the murphy blind away off the inside because she was running out last week. She was not quite as bad tonight running out as last week; I think last week she was even worse. We're just going to rig her a little bit differently, maybe put a headpole on the outside or something like that, and she'll be fine. No doubt she was a little tired, but she had every right to be."

Ron Burke trains Atlanta, a 4-year-old daughter of Chapter Seven, for owners Crawford Farms Racing, Brad Grant, and Howard Taylor. This was Atlanta's 16th career win, and she has now pocketed C$1,416,477. The 1-5 favorite, she paid $2.50 to win.

"Like Ronnie says, she's as push-button as they get," remarked assistant trainer Mickey Burke Jr. "She's done everything we've asked her to do so far, and we don't see where her end is yet. It's racing, horses catch you when you don't think they are. It's a miserable night, and so fortunately she responded and raced on her toes."

Even though she didn't win tonight, Hannelore Hanover lost nothing in defeat according to Burke Jr.

"Even tonight, she got hung to a big quarter, and she didn't race bad," he stated. "She got beat, she got beat by a good mare, fortunately it's ours. Her record speaks for itself. She's just an amazing mare. She's great to be around, and we just love having her in the barn."

Grant was also elated by his mare's triumph, especially since he lives just five minutes away from Woodbine Mohawk Park.

"She's a freak, and she showed it tonight again, said Grant. "Most of her life she's raced close to the front or on the front, so to get her sitting for a bit and then crank it up like that is just unbelievable."