Woodbine Mohawk Park: Crack Shot, Set Shot victorious in OSS Gold Series

James Avritt Sr. of Kentucky bred both winners of the C$90,000 Ontario Sires Stakes (OSS) Gold Series events for 3-year-old pacing colts and geldings contested Saturday (June 28) at Woodbine Mohawk Park - Crack Shot and Set Shot.

Crack Shot set a 1:50 2/5 career best while dominating the first Gold division in wire-to-wire fashion. In doing so, the son of Bettor's Delight-Beautyonthebeach returned to the winner's circle for the first time in five starts and exactly two weeks after finishing seventh in the C$1 million Pepsi North America Cup won by Louprint.

Doug McNair left alertly with Crack Shot (3-5) from post three in the field of six and led the field through fractions of 25 4/5, 54 4/5 and 1:23 3/5 with Boxer Seelster (Trevor Henry) second the entire mile and finishing five lengths back. Blue Bar (Travis Cullen) was third, Fubar Bundy (Jonathan Drury) was fourth and Tip Of Time (Jody Jamieson) grabbed the final check. Control Rocks (Tyler Borth) originally finished fourth, but was placed sixth by the judges for interference.

McNair drove Crack Shot to victory for his father, trainer and co-owner Gregg McNair. The elder McNair shares Crack Shot's ownership with London Knights coach Dale Hunter, Frank Brundle and George Kerr. The group purchased Crack Shot for $205,000 at the 2023 Lexington Selected Yearling Sale.

Crack Shot improved to 3-1-0 in six 2025 starts and upped his seasonal bankroll to C$149,224. The colt is now 8-2-0 in 14 career starts and has total earnings of C$388,049.

Incredibly, Doug McNair won the Gold in race two that went to post at 7:09 p.m. (EDT) and still managed to make it to the Meadowlands to drive Ervin Hanover (finishing fifth) in the $86,500 second division of the Dave Brower Memorial for older pacers that went to post just two hours and 23 minutes later at 9:32 p.m.

Doug said he had a private plane waiting and the total flying time was about an hour.

"I wanted to say I could do it," Doug said via text from New Jersey. "No one believed in me."

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Meanwhile, back in Milton in the second Gold division, Set Shot bested the field of five after the scratch of Smiling Dancer.

Despite the short field, the race provided plenty of drama in the stretch with Set Shot (Jody Jamieson) holding off Aquinas Hanover (Bob McClure), who came flying on the outside from last to just miss by a half-length. Allstar Magic (Travis Cullen) nearly sneaked past on the inside. He finished third, just a smidge behind Aquinas Hanover. Sterling Choice (Billy Davis, Jr.) was fourth and Stonebridge Wizard (Tyler Jones) was fifth. The 1:51 mile was a career-best for Set Shot.

It was Sterling Choice that led the field to the 27 3/5 quarter pole, but Jamieson, driving Set Shot for the first time, had his charge out and moving to the front before the 55 4/5 half. He retained the lead through the 1:23 3/5 three-quarters and then the stretch battle was on.

"[Set Shot] fits the bill," Jamieson told Woodbine broadcaster Greg Blanchard in the winner's circle. "He's a beautiful animal, and he's got huge, huge speed. He wasn't even done [in the stretch]. He was just kind of waiting on them. He wants them to come to him so he can fight them off. He's a pretty special animal, for sure."

The win was the first in Ontario Sires Stakes action for Set Shot, a son of Bettor's Delight out of Pristine Beauty owned by Mac and Carol Nichol and trained by Dr. Ian Moore. Set Shot is now 2-2-1 in seven 2025 starts and 3-3-2 in 15 lifetime outings. He now has earnings of C$85,680 on the year and C$126,674 lifetime.

The pacer was a $280,000 purchase at the 2023 Lexington Selected Yearling Sale.

"[Set Shot is] right up there with all of our [3-year-old pacers]," Moore said. "He just had a fair season as a 2-year-old last year, but he's changed a lot this spring. He trained down really well. I trained him with [$900,000 winner] Clever Cody and [$487,000 winner] Prince Hal Hanover, and it actually made [Set Shot] go faster. He had to keep up to them and he was right there with them most of the winter in Florida. So, it was nice to see him win for sure."

--press release (Ontario Sires Stakes)--