Woodbine Mohawk Park: Field set for Goodtimes final after two elims

Ready For Moni and HP Royal Theo scored victories in the pair of C$30,000 Goodtimes Stakes eliminations for 3-year-old colt and gelding trotters that were held on Friday night at Woodbine Mohawk Park.

Coming off a win in the Zweig at Vernon Downs, Ready For Moni was tucked into third by Yannick Gingras to the 27 1/5 first quarter, but then went on the move to take over control before the 56 1/5 half. Ready For Moni began to pick up the tempo and get away from the field to the 1:24 3/5 three-quarters and into the lane, and he would hold sway to the wire, winning by three-parts of a length in 1:51 4/5. Play Trix On Me (Jody Jamieson) sat in the pocket and the three-hole and finished with good trot to get second, with early leader Hayek (Sylvain Filion) in third. Jula Trix Treasure (James MacDonald) and Hollywood Story (Louis-Philippe Roy) also made the final from this elimination.

"The money is next week, so I just tried to save a little bit. He had plenty more at the end," said Gingras. "Last year he had a mind of his own at times. Sometimes he was fine, and sometimes he wasn't. In the post parade you'd be able to tell, because if he was acting up in the post parade, most of the time he didn't race so good. This year he's a perfect gentleman. He drives with two fingers, and he's perfect in the post parade. There's nothing wrong with him. He's just very mature and a really, really nice colt."

A colt by Ready Cash, Ready For Moni is trained by Nancy Takter for owners John Fielding, Lindy Farms, Herb Liverman, and Bud Hatfield. He now has a record of 8-2-0 from 13 career appearances, and he has now pocketed C$779,020. He was the 1-9 favorite and paid $2.10 to win.

Back in the first elimination Moon Bridge (Filion) grudgingly allowed a challenging Threefiftytwo (Bob McClure) to clear to the point after the 27 1/5 opening quarter, but HP Royal Theo (Roy), who left from post nine, pressed on two-wide and became the new leader going to the 56 2/5 half. From there, HP Royal Theo repelled a first-over challenge from Moon Bridge going to the 1:25 3/5 three-quarters and then shook away in the lane, prevailing by a length and three-quarters in 1:53 1/5. Capricornus (Doug McNair) rallied from second-over to finish in the runner-up spot, with Hot Wheelz (Jamieson), Lovedbythemasses (Mike Saftic), and Stravinsky (Gingras) also advancing to the final.

"I didn't know what I was going to do, but I just let him float by himself, and he's so fast that I didn't even have to rush him to get to the lead," remarked Roy. "I felt pretty confident once he made the lead that way. I wasn't that confident with the nine-hole, but I'm very happy the horse overcame that."

Ben Baillargeon trains HP Royal Theo, a gelded son of Royalty For Life, for co-owner/breeder Claude Hamel and co-owner Michel Damphousse. HP Royal Theo picked up his seventh career victory, and he has now earned C$424,040. He was sent off at 3-1 and paid $8.90 to win.