Woodbine Mohawk Park: Periculum upsets King Of The North

A week after scoring a double in the Champlain Stakes, driver Doug McNair and trainer Marcus Melander pulled off the same feat in the William Wellwood Memorial eliminations for 2-year-old colt and gelding trotters on Thursday night at Woodbine Mohawk Park.

Peter Haughton Memorial winner King Of The North was the big chalk in second elimination, but he was defeated by a rallying Periculum and McNair. King Of The North (Mark MacDonald), who came into the race five-for-five, got away in sixth from the pole position but improved to fourth before Periculum hit the quarter in 27 2/5 as Bar Brawl (Gino Toscani) and HL Balou (Sylvain Filion) both made breaks.

In the backstretch Twin B Archie (James Macdonald) brushed from third to first, and hot on his heels was King Of The North, who grabbed the top spot after the 56 4/5 half. After getting away with a soft tempo around the far turn that saw three-quarters reached in just 1:26 3/5, it figured to be hard to catch King Of The North, but Periculum had other ideas, as he rallied through a gap on the inside and used a 27 2/5 final kicker to get up to prevail by three-quarters of a length in 1:54 3/5. King Of The North had to settle for second, Pretender (Andrew McCarthy) was a closing third, and Twin B Archie ended up fourth.

"I got stung a little bit going to the quarter pole. The two horses that I kind of wanted to follow, they were both in front of me," relayed McNair. "I thought I was following the right horses, and I thought if it opened up I might be able to squeeze in the final. He trotted home a real good last quarter to upset."

Periculum is a Muscle Hill colt trained by Marcus Melander for owners Holly Lane Stud East Ltd., Brixton Medical Inc., and Howard Taylor. Periculum, bred by Order By Stable and a $340,000 Lexington Selected Yearling Sale acquisition, broke his maiden in his sixth chance and has now pocketed C$30,000. He is the third foal out of the Cantab Hall mare Amour Heiress and a full brother to Spy Booth (1:52 3/5, $435,582) and King Alphonso (1:52, $298,390). Dispatched at 6-1, Periculum returned $15.20 to win.

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Temporal Hanover gave the McNair/Melander duo their other Wellwood Memorial victory when he took the final C$30,000 elimination in 1:55 1/5. Temporal Hanover trotted along in second behind World At War Deo (Jamieson) through stations of 28, 57 3/5, and 1:26 3/5 but had vacated the cones prior to three-quarters. It was a good duel to the wire between Temporal Hanover and World At War Deo, but the former forged his way past late to tally by a neck. Southwind Domino (Roy) and Safe Conduct (Chris Christoforou) were third and fourth, respectively.

"It was a pretty good mile tonight. It's cold out there and a little bit of wind," McNair said. "These miles, on t.v., you can't tell, but they're pretty impressive miles.

"That's a nice horse of Jody's, and they battled for quite a ways. He ended up taking the lead late in the stretch, and he did everything right.

Amg Stable Inc., Kenneth Kjellgren, Rick Wahlstedt, and Heights Stable own Temporal Hanover, a Walner colt. Bred by Hanover Shoe Farms and the fifth foal out of Think Twice, an unraced Cantab Hall half-sister to Glidemaster (1:51 1/5, $1,969,847), he was a $55,000 Standardbred Horse Sale purchase. He is now a four-time winner from seven starts, has put C$129,087 in the bank, and he returned $4.20 to win as the favorite.

Back in the opening C$30,000 Wellwood Memorial elimination, Duly Resolved (Paul MacDonell) zipped to the engine from post three and posted panels of 27 4/5, 58, and 1:27 4/5. McNair-driven and Melander-trained Letsdoit S, who defeated a boxed-in Duly Resolved in their Champlain Stakes division last week, pulled out of the pocket going to three-quarters and battled with Duly Resolved all the way to the wire, but Duly Resolved would never let Letsdoit S get by, holding him at bay by a neck in 1:55 1/5. Esplosione (Trevor Henry) overcame an early break to get third, and Drinks At Home (Bob McClure) finished fourth.

"I was very impressed. He fought that horse off," stated MacDonell. "The weather is not 100 percent; it's a little bit windy out there tonight, and sometimes they don't hear horses coming up on them like that. He wasn't going to be denied tonight.

"He got an easy half, that helped, but I didn't think it would be a problem going forward, him trotting down to that level of 54, 55. That's not going to be a problem for him."

John Bax trains Duly Resolved, a gelding from the first crop of Resolve, for owners Bax Stable, Davd Hudson, Don Allensen, and Gaelic Stable. Duly Resolved, an Ontario Sires Stakes standout thus far, has a record of 5-1-0 from six appearances and has now banked C$158,509. Duly Resolved, who fetched $30,000 at the 2020 Lexington Selected Yearling Sale, was bred by Bet Max Stables Inc. and Benenati Inc. and is the third foal out of the Muscle Mass mare Motown Muscle (1:53 4/5, $447,944), which makes him a half-brother to Bright Eyes M (Kadabra, 1:53, $239,589). Duly Resolved was the 2-1 second choice and paid $6.20 to win.

Here's how the field will line up for next Saturday's C$640,000 final:

1-World At War Deo
2-King Of The North
3-Duly Resolved
4-Periculum
5-Temporal Hanover
6-Esplosione
7-Twin B Archie
8-Pretender
9-Letsdoit S
10-Southwind Domino
AE-Safe Conduct