Woodbine Mohawk Park: Ontario Sires Stakes regular season wraps up

Eleventh hour victories secured post-season berths for both Sweet Young Thing and Keystone Concrete as the 2-year-old pacing colts and fillies wrapped up their Ontario Sires Stakes Gold Series regular seasons at Woodbine Mohawk Park on Saturday evening.

With 38 points, Sweet Young Thing was sitting just below the cut off for next weekend’s C$225,000 Super Final when she lined up behind the starting gate for the second C$97,200 pacing filly division. With driver Trevor Henry in the race bike, Sweet Young Thing got away second from post five and then tucked in behind Grassroots champion Sports Flix, who led the field of nine to a 26 4/5 opening quarter and a 56 1/5 half. Heading for the 1:26 three-quarters Henry sent Sweet Young Thing up the outside, and the Sportswriter daughter powered right by the pace-setter and on to a 1:54 victory over a track rated one second slower than normal. Sports Flix found another burst to finish just three-quarters of a length behind the winner, with Cinderella Delight hard on her heels in third.

“She trained okay through the winter. She wasn’t a very big filly, well she still isn’t, and she trained well, she got progressively better, but she wasn’t what I thought was one of my better ones,” said trainer Tony O’Sullivan. “The first time we put the race bike on her she just was just different and as the year’s gone on, even though I’ve raced her lightly, she’s a happy filly, she’s eating well, she just seems really happy to do her job.

“After last week (Sept. 28) I had my doubts (about the Super Final), because we were at the mercy of an 11-horse field and Trevor couldn’t find a spot,” the horseman added. “She ended up on the outside the whole mile, but he didn’t beat her up and she came out of that race great, so it probably worked in our favor.”

With Saturday’s victory Sweet Young Thing boosted her point tally to 88 and moved into fifth spot in the standings. In her three previous Gold Series starts the Sportswriter daughter had finished second, fourth and fifth.

O’Sullivan conditions Sweet Young Thing for owner-breeders Lorne and Jean Keller, and O'Sullivan was delighted to score the win for the couple.

“Snowbird, which is Sweet Young Thing’s dam, is the first horse I trained for them,” the horseman explained. “I trained Snowbird and we’ve had horses together since then. We’ve had some really good times and we’ve had a couple lean years. They are really nice people. I’m lucky; I have some really good owners.”

The other pacing filly division went to point leader Better Single, who rocketed from last to first with a 27 1/5 final quarter, hitting the wire in a personal-best 1:53 1/5. Race favorite Powerful Chris bobbed and weaved her way down the stretch into second, 2 1/4 lengths behind the winner, and Ideation Hanover was another length back in third.

Louis-Philippe Roy piloted Better Single to the win for trainer Anthony Beaton and his partner David Mercer. In five regular season appearances the Betterthancheddar daughter recorded three wins, one third and one fifth for a total of 167 points.

Pacing colt Keystone Concrete also leapt into the post-season with a victory in the second C$96,400 division for the pacing colts and geldings. Starting from post two, Roy settled the Bettor's Delight colt in third as heavy favorite Bronx Seelster took the field to a 27 3/5 quarter and 57 3/5 half. Stuck on the rail as a herd of horses powered up the outside at the 1:27.2 three-quarter mark, Roy found a lane up the inside in the stretch and Keystone Concrete roared by Bronx Seelster to a 1:54 1/5 victory. Division leader Bronx Seelster was two lengths back in second and pocket-sitter Fast N First was third.

“We were very lucky, and I know that as a horse trainer. We were very lucky,” said Rob Fellows.

Saturday marked Keystone Concrete’s first start since August 28. The colt was not eligible to the open stakes at Woodbine Mohawk Park in September and after a month-long break Fellows did not feel the youngster was fit enough for the Sept. 28 Gold event, so he had his fingers crossed that Keystone Concrete could score enough points to extend his season another week. In five previous starts the pacer had posted three wins, two of them in Grassroots action, and two seconds.

“I didn’t stake this guy because, he did nothing wrong, but he wasn’t flashy,” said Fellows. “He did everything right training down, his first qualifier was disappointing, and after that he was very, very good.”

Fellows trains Keystone Concrete for his wife Yolanda Fellows, Arpad Szabo, and Blair Corbeil, and figures the colt will need another dose of luck to tackle the division’s best in the Oct. 13 Super Final.

“Stag Party is a dominant horse in this division, and Bronx Seelster, a dominant horse, and then you look at Bettors Wish,” said the trainer. “So hopefully with some post position luck and some racing luck, I think with a trip we could be fourth. I think to be better than that we’re going to have to overcome someone else’s bad luck, because I have so much respect for those three horses.”

Bettors Wish captured the other pacing colt division with an impressive 1:51 1/5 mile as the rain started to fall at the Campbellville, Ontario, oval. With regular driver Paul MacDonell in the race bike, the favorite took command going by the half and never looked back, cruising to a 2 1/2 length win over Better Up. Twin B Watching was well back in third.

Chantal Mitchell trains the Bettor's Delight son for Chris Ryder, Bella Racing Ltd., Fair Island Farm Inc., and Kenneth Solomon. In five regular season appearances Bettors Wish netted three wins, one second and one third for 187 points and second-place in the standings behind Bronx Seelster.

The top 10 point earners from both divisions will return to Woodbine Mohawk Park on Saturday, Oct. 13 for the season-ending Super Final. Post time for the $1.8 million Super Final card is 7:10 pm.

--press release (Ontario Sires Stakes)--