Woodbine Mohawk Park: Beyond Better, Northern Sultan rally to Harvest Series titles

Beyond Better and Northern Sultan rallied to victories in Friday evening's Harvest Series finals at Woodbine Mohawk Park. The Harvest Series for 3-year-old colts and geldings wrapped up with the C$51,400 final for pacers and a C$50,500 final for trotters. Each final saw full fields of ten compete.

Beyond Better capitalized on wicked fractions up front rally from fifth and seven lengths off at the head of the lane to score a career-best 1:52 win. Trevor Henry guided the Bob McIntosh trainee to his fifth win in 13 starts this season.

Beach Demon did the heavy lifting early, posting sizzling fractions of 27 2/5, 54 2/5, and 1:22 2/5. The torrid pace did in Beach Demon, who gamely hung in for a fourth-place finish.

Beyond Better sat fifth throughout and swept by rivals on the far outside with a 28 1/5 final quarter to win by a length and a half. Delightful Terror sat fairly close to the hot tempo in third and split through to finish second. Heart On My Sleeve followed Beyond Better's path to a third-place finish.

A gelded son of Bettor's Delight, Beyond Better moved up to C$71,810 in earnings for owners Robert McIntosh Stables, Dave Boyle, and Mardon Stables. Unraced at age two, Beyond Better now has back-to-back victories to go along with a pair of runner-up finishes in the two starts prior. Beyond Better returned $5.80 to win.

Northern Sultan and driver Chris Christoforou had a similar path to victory, coming from sixth at the top of the stretch for a career-best 1:55 3/5 victory. The Murray Brethour trainee came into Friday's final off a victory in round two, but was overlooked, scoring a 10-1 upset.

Heavy favorite Moon Bridge had a tough journey from post nine, spending just over the first half of the race parked before touching down on the lead. The public's top choice took the field down to three-quarters in 1:25 2/5 with pressure being applied.

The back field came to life in the lane, with Northern Sultan powering up to the victory by three-quarters of a length. Lexus Markus came from well back in ninth to finish second, extending his unlucky streak of second-place finishes to four in a row. Magics Wizard advanced from seventh to finish third, while Moon Bridge had to settle for fourth.

A homebred for Northfields Farm, Northern Sultan is now three-for-11 on the season with C$57,272 earned. The gelded son of Royalty For Life made just two starts as a rookie. Those that backed the Brethour-trained Northern Sultan got back $22.40 for a $2 win ticket.

The Harvest Series was open to Ontario-sired 3-year-olds that were non-winners of C$30,000 in 2020 as of September 30.

--press release (Woodbine Mohawk Park)--