Woodbine Mohawk Park: Kissin In The Sand drops the hammer in Milton final

Kissin The Sand picked up her first stakes victory since her 3-year-old season and did it in dominating fashion, cruising to a 1:49 triumph in the C$215,000 Milton Stakes final for open pacing mares on Saturday night at Woodbine Mohawk Park.

Lit De Rose (Louis-Philippe Roy) charged out from post eight and worked her way past Trillions Hanover (Doug McNair) prior to the 26 1/5 opening quarter. Kissin In The Sand (Jody Jamieson), who waited on the inside and then exploded home in the lane after angling out to capture her elimination a week ago, was not biding her time with the big money and trophy on the line tonight, though, roaring from third to first in the backstretch.

After taking over, Kissin In The Sand went on to the half in 54 1/5, already with a bit of a gap on the field, and she maintained command around the final bend and to the 1:22 1/5 three-quarters. Treacherous Reign (Bob McClure) was only able to over tepid first-up pressure on the last turn, and Warrawee Ubeaut (Yannick Gingras) and Caviart Ally (Andrew McCarthy) were being held up behind her in the second-over and third-over positions.

In the stretch Kissin In The Sand just poured it on and ran up the score, leaving no chance for the closers to get involved as she charged home in 26 4/5 to win by five lengths over Lit De Rose, who dug in gamely to hold the second spot over Caviart Ally. Treacherous Reign was fourth and So Much More (James MacDonald) collected fifth over an unlucky Trillions Hanover, who was pinned in on the rail with nowhere to go through the entire lane.

"She clearly needed that race last week. She was so good coming off the rail and 25 3/5 on the end. I was just ultra-confident in her, and we got to pick our post, obviously, with the win," said Jamieson. "I just figured that we'd get away a little bit close and see how it panned out, and it worked out perfectly to get back to the lead. She just did the rest. Nancy (Takter) and her team had her awesome tonight. She was unbeatable, really.

"She just jogged; 26 4/5 on the end like breaking sticks. Really, just an amazing effort."

Takter trains Kissin In The Sand, a 5-year-old mare by Somebeachsomewhere, for owners Marvin Katz and Bud Hatfield. Kissin In The Sand has a record of 22-11-6 from 53 career efforts, and she has now earned C$1,494,427. She paid $5.00 to win as the 3-2 favorite.

"Nancy Takter doesn't need me to sing her praises, but this mare is entirely, 100 percent due to Nancy Takter," remarked Katz. "From the time she was a baby, developing her as a yearling, she's loved her, and she actually came up here as a 2-year-old with her. Nancy and I have had 50 discussions about stopping with her, and it's Nancy who has insisted that she's good and great. The performance tonight speaks volumes about Nancy Takter.

"She was great when she started early in the year, and then she started to kind of have some difficulties. Nancy never lost faith in her, said that she's okay, just let's be patient. Of course I'm saying let's stop, I don't want to hurt her or anything. Of course I was wrong and Nancy was right. She's just a spectacularly great mare. She's had horrible post positions. You hear that all the time, but this mare really has. This is a champion mare, and I'm so happy for her tonight."