Woodbine Mohawk Park: French Champagne pops the cork in Elegantimage

Ake Svanstedt-trained French Champagne squeezed through a tight space on the inside in the lane and got up late for a 1:52 1/5 win in the C$347,000 Elegantimage Stakes final for sophomore trotting fillies on Saturday night at Woodbine Mohawk Park.

Driver Dexter Dunn fired French Champagne out from post eight and had the lead at the 26 4/5 opening quarter, but she would be overtaken by favorite Drawn Impression (Louis-Philippe Roy) past that marker. Drawn Impression then yielded to sit in the two-hole behind R Melina (Todd McCarthy), who was two-wide throughout from post nine but cleared beyond the 55 4/5 half-mile marker.

Roy had Drawn Impression off the pylons before R Melina clicked off three-quarters in 1:24 1/5 and would wear that rival down inside the final eighth to take command again. However, Dunn was able to find just enough of a seam to get through with French Champagne, despite McCarthy's best efforts to keep the inside shut, and French Champagne got her nose on the wire just ahead of Drawn Impression. R Melina had to settle for third, Emoji Hanover (James MacDonald) collected fourth and Sambuca Hanover (David Miller) got fifth.

"The gap opened up pretty good for me and then it shut off on me. It got a bit tight after that," said Dunn after the win. "She was full of trot. She felt fantastic tonight, and Ake and Sarah just do such a good job of getting them ready for these big races.

"They knew she'd be better for this week. They pulled her shoes tonight and she trotted great. I had to leave pretty hard out of the gate to get across. She was just traveling like a winner the whole race realy. I was the following the two right horses to be following and the tempo was strong enough. I was happy where I was, and I hoped for the luck at the end of the run."

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French Champagne is a Muscle Hill homebred for Marvin Katz and Al Libfeld. She has a summary of 9-2-6 from 19 starts, has earned C$739,033 and paid $12.40 to win as a 5-1 shot.

"She's improved dramatically this year over last year. She was slow developing. She's had some quirks," remarked Katz. "Ake and Sarah have done a fantastic job developing her. She was really good in the Goldsmith Maid at the end of last year. We had high hopes for her. She won the New Jersey Classic, she drew some bad posts and the Hambletonian Oaks didn't work out well for her, but she's been one of the top fillies all year.

"I leave to it Ake and Sarah, they know what they're doing. Clearly, they've done it enough times to demonstrate it. She hadn't raced for a month prior to the elimination. Obviously she was tighter tonight and she showed it. It was a great performance."