Woodbine Mohawk Park: Periculum pounces off hot tempo in Maple Leaf Trot

Periculum backed up his elimination victory by winning Saturday night's C$600,000 Maple Leaf Trot final for free-for-allers at Woodbine Mohawk Park in 1:50 4/5 despite racing off the pylons throughout the mile.

Driver Scott Zeron just floated away into sixth from post five but wound up off the cones with Periculum and watched as the other elimination victor Logan Park (Doug McNair) went to the front from the two-hole and parked out a two-wide M-M's Dream (David Miller) through opening-half fractions of 26 3/5 and 54 1/5. Hillexotic (Jody Jamieson) got going off the rail past the half, and that finally gave Periculum a helmet to track around the final bend.

With M-M's Dream beginning to back up before the 1:22 4/5 three-quarters, McNair opened a gap on the others as Hillexotic and Periculum both fanned to the outside before three-quarters and lost ground in the process. After gaining that separation, Logan Park was still clear with an eighth to go, but Periculum was in full flight in the center of the track, and he went by Logan Park with little dispute once he reached him. From there, Periculum pulled away to win by 2 1/4 lengths over fellow Marcus Melander trainee Oh Well (Dexter Dunn), who catapulted from tenth to second in the final quarter. Logan Park, Hillexotic and Gaines Hanover (Sylvain Filion) completed the top five.

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"I really didn't want to get in a speed duel up front. Not being on the pylons wasn't the end of the world, it was more about trying to get some nice flow," Zeron said after the event. "Obviously it was a hot tempo up front, so I was happy where I was on the last turn. You can never be too confident having to give up lengths to good horses in front of you, but I know how quick he is. Honestly, the hard work goes into the years before. I've only driven him twice now and he's been a pleasure. That's from the ground work that they've put into him.

"I had a great post, so I felt like I had options no matter what. I could see the writing on the wall a little early. There was going to be a lot of speed. I just didn't want to have to be that one one or the one that was first-up early, so I was happy with where I was situated."

Zeron added this victory to his earlier triumph in the Canadian Pacing Derby, giving him another big night in major stakes races.

"It's great. There is where I grew up racing," he offered. "To come here and do this with some good horses and for good connections, it's a fun experience."

A 5-year-old stallion by Muscle Hill, Periculum was bred by Order By Stable and is owned by Brixton Medical Inc. and Holly Lane Stud East Ltd. This was his 11th career triumph, he has now earned C$863,543 and paid $3.30 to win as the favorite.

"He had no cover there for a while. It helped that it was 54 to the half and a good tempo up there, but it looked like he did it easy," relayed Melander, who also took last Saturday's William Wellwood Memorial at Woodbine Mohawk Park with Maryland. "He's been racing great all year. He got a couple of wins in the overnight races, but in the big races he's had some bad luck. These two weeks here, he showed he's one of the better ones."