Woodbine Mohawk Park: Elims held for William Wellwood Memorial, Peaceful Way

The fields are now set for the William Wellwood Memorial and Peaceful Way Stakes finals for 2-year-old trotters at Woodbine Mohawk Park after the Campbellville, Ontario, oval played host to C$30,000 eliminations on Saturday night.

In the first William Wellwood Memorial elim for the colts and geldings, Winners Bet (Doug McNair) brushed from fourth at the 28 1/5 opening quarter to first at the 59 1/5 half, fought off a stern first-over challenge from Dahlquist Hanover (Trevor Henry) on the last turn and to the 1:29 1/5 three-quarters, and sprinted home in 27 2/5 to defeat Tuscan Prince (Bob McClure) by a neck in 1:56 3/5. Gaines Hanover (Louis-Philippe Roy) was third, followed by Dahlquist Hanover.

"He was just real green on the front-end. He's never been on the front-end before, and just going up to the half, we weren't going a whole lot, and he was kind of ready to go," said McNair, who catch drove Winners Bet when Dexter Dunn was late coming up from Pocono. "When I got him on the front he went right to sleep on me, but when the ones came beside him, he trotted home. That was a good last quarter when you're on the front and very green like that."

Domenico Cecere trains Winners Bet, a Walner-Side Bet Hanover colt bred by S R F Stable, for owners Lindy Farms and Robert Rudolph. Winners Bet, who sold for $200,000 at last year's Lexington Selected Yearling Sale, has two wins, a second, and a third from four starts, has banked C$33,600, and paid $3.40 to win as the 3-5 favorite.

25-1 shot Oh Look Magic (Matthew Bax) led through panels of 28 1/5, 58 2/5, and 1:26 4/5 on his way to winning the second William Wellwood Memorial elimination by a neck over Ghostly Casper (Sylvain Filion) in 1:55 1/5. Race favorite French Wine (Andy Miller) gapped the gate at the start and also gapped Ghostly Casper's cover from second-over but got up for third, with Nothingbutadreamer (McNair) back in fourth.

"He's a little hot, so I knew there was only one option. From the six-hole he just fired off to the front, and then he relaxed. He took it home. We got an easy half, and the rest is history," stated Bax.

John Bax trains Oh Look Magic, a Lookslikeachpndale-Miami Magic gelding, for co-owner/breeder Glengate Farms and co-owners Bax Stable and The Cavalier Stable. Oh Look Magic won for the third time in five appearances, has now earned C$70,422, and returned $52.30 for the upset.

The last William Wellwood Memorial elim went to another Cecere trainee in International Man. Yannick Gingras put International Man on the engine from post eight, carved out fractions of 29 3/5, 1:00 1/5, and 1:28 2/5, and fended off pocket-sitter Southwind Coors (Mike Saftic) to triumph by half a length in 1:56. Snowpiercer (Paul MacDonell) and Hasty Bid (James MacDonald) were third and fourth, respectively.

"I was definitely going to go forward out of the gate. I didn't want to take him off the gate. You've got to be top three (to advance), so it's not that easy to accomplish. I didn't really want to be on the front, but that's just the way it worked out," offered Gingras.

International Man is a Lindy Farms homebred son of International Moni-Birthright. He has compiled a record of 2-0-1 from three attempts, has now stashed away C$27,400, and paid $8.10 to win as the 3-1 second choice.

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The first elimination of the Peaceful Way for the fillies saw Warrawee Yes (Roy) score by three-quarters of a length in 1:55 3/5 after she showed the way through stations of 27 2/5, 57 3/5, and 1:26 3/5. Shesundertheradar (Filion), Graceful Patty (McNair), Tactical Planner (Tyler Jones), and Horn Player (Henry) also made the final from the race.

"It's the first time I've used her a lot in the first quarter. You don't know how they're going to react to it. Some of them they get pretty tired and they quit easily. This one, even when Sylvain was coming close to her, she wanted to fight again, so she showed me things that I like tonight," Roy remarked.

Warrawee Yes, a Walner-Sound Check filly, is trained by Shawn Steacy for owners Hudson Standardbred Stable Inc., Pamela Larson, Bertrand Gilhespy Stable, and Shelly Macmillan. Warrawee Yes, an $85,000 Lexington Selected Yearling Sale acquistion, broke her maiden in her fourth shot, has now put away C$38,525, and returned $11.10 to win as a 9-2 shot.

In the other Peaceful Way elimination, Righteous Resolve (MacDonell) hit the quarter in 29 1/5 and then released 1-9 favorite Heart On Fire (Dunn) to the front after that marker. Heart On Fire got away with a soft middle-half of just 59 and 1:27 3/5, but Righteous Resolve came to the outside in the lane and was able to out-foot the big chalk in the last eighth, winning by a length and a half in 1:55 3/5. Heart On Fire, Quite Fast (Matthew Bax), Winooski (Jones), and Northern Magenta (MacDonald) were second through fifth.

"To me, this filly is just getting stronger and stronger as we go here," stated MacDonell. "Prior to last week (when she won an Ontario Sires Stakes Gold Series event), she was about a month off, and I was really impressed how she raced there last week. I figured she'd be much better back in a week tonight."

Another Bax trainee, Righteous Resolve is a daughter of Resolve-Motown Muscle and is a homebred for Bet Max Stables Inc. and Benenati Inc. Righteous Resolve owns four victories and a runner-up finish from five trips behind the gate, has banked C$150,525, and returned $13.00 to win as the 5-1 second choice.