Woodbine Mohawk Park: LMC Bumble Bee stings foes in SBOA Stakes final

LMC Bumble Bee overcame a bad shuffle with a powerful stretch rally that carried her to a 1:55 victory in Saturday night's C$141,518 S.B.O.A. Stakes final for 3-year-old trotting fillies at Woodbine Mohawk Park.

Driven by James MacDonald, the Nick Gallucci-trained LMC Bumble Bee was in the pocket behind Shape Shifter (Phil Hudon) at the 27 1/5 opening quarter, but her position got progressively worse as Princesspartypants (Scott Young) took over before the 55 2/5 half, then was passed by P L Notsonice (Jonathan Drury) after that marker. When P L Notsonice cleared, that left Susies Lady (Jody Jamieson) first-up, but she was able to squeeze into the pocket passing the 1:25 1/5 three-quarters as Princesspartypants gapped on the rail.

In the stretch Jamieson brought Susies Lady back to the outside after the braven-up tuck in the two-hole, and she joined P L Notsonice just inside the final eighth. However, the closers began to catch the eye at that point, and moving best of all was LMC Bumble Bee, who angled out two-wide and three-wide in upper stretch, slid back to the open inside path in mid-stretch, and vaulted by the other contenders to win by three-parts of a length. Jula Shes Magic (Chris Christoforou) rallied from ninth to second in the final panel, with Yen (Sylvain Filion) third. Susies Lady and P L Notsonice had to settle for fourth and fifth, respectively.

"I was in an awful spot with nowhere to go. They kind of hooked wheels a little bit for a second in front of me, and then I got a seam to get out," said MacDonald. "At the top of the stretch I just was dying for some daylight because I had all kinds of trot. All the credit goes to Nick. He did a great job. He made a few changes, and she was much better tonight."

A daughter of Muscle Mass, LMC Bumble Bee is owned by breeder Frank Cirillo in partnership with his daughter Lori Cirillo. LMC Bumble Bee is now a four-time winner in her career, and she has earned C$121,975. She was a 9-1 shot and paid $20.00 to win.

"When we were training her down, we thought she was the best trotting filly we've ever owned," remarked Frank Cirillo. "She got two surgeries last year, and she had two surgeries this year after the first Ontario Sires Stakes Gold Series race. We never thought she'd make it back, but Nick did just an amazing job bringing her back. It's unbelievable to actually be standing here right now.

"She's actually still eligible for the Harvest Series that starts next week. She made absolutely no money up front with the surgeries, so we've got three more races, and then after that we'll decide if we're going to go to the breeding shed or if we're going to bring her back as a 4-year-old. She just has so much potential, and she's such a great trotter that it's going to be a tough decision that Nick's going to have to make with Lori and myself."