Woodbine Mohawk Park: Records galore for Grace Hill in Roses Are Red

Grace Hill, last year's Breeders Crown and TVG champion, paced the fastest mile ever in Canada by an older mare in winning the C$305,000 Roses Are Red final on Saturday night at Woodbine Mohawk Park in 1:47 4/5.

Silver Label, driven by Todd McCarthy, showed blast-off speed from post six and reached the opening quarter in 25 3/5, but driver Doug McNair, who was involved in an accident in the Mohawk Gold Cup just before the Roses Are Red, put Grace Hill in motion out of third past that station and made front before the 53 4/5 half. Meanwhile, favored Treacherous Dragon (Dexter Dunn) got away in the fifth position and then picked up cover past the half from Kobes Gigi (David Miller), who got away well from post ten and then made a second move to the outside.

The outer flow tried to make some headway on Grace Hill on the final bend but stalled out before the 1:21 1/5 three-quarters, and there was no catching Grace Hill to the wire as she used a 26 3/5 final kicker to win by about 2 1/2 lengths over Silver Label. So Much More (James MacDonald), Kobes Gigi and Treacherous Dragon rounded out the top five.

The clocking knocked a fifth of a second off the previous mark of 1:48 flat set by Anndrovette on July 20, 2013, also in the Roses Are Red final.

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"Fifteen or 20 minutes ago I'm lying on the track not knowing what's going and next thing you know I'm standing in the winner's circle for the Roses Are Red with one of the greatest mares to ever seen through a bridle, I think," said McNair, who saluted the crowd approaching the finish line. "She felt great. Dex had the two-hole and we were in the middle of the gate. We kind of wanted to get a little bit of an advantage on him coming in the last turn. Once the dust settled, I put her on the front and she did the rest. I was just a passenger. 1:21 and still came home in 26 and change. It's outrageous."

Virgil Morgan Jr., who also teamed up with McNair earlier on the program to win the Armbro Flight with Refined, trains Grace Hill for owner Tom Hill. Grace Hill is now a 24-time winner from 51 lifetime starts, has pocketed C$1,465,130.

"Virgil has been telling me for the eight or nine months that he's had the mare that she's the best mare on the planet. She's proved it tonight," stated Hill and added, "What I can't get, it's not for me, but the horse doesn't get the recognition she deserves. I look at the top ten horses - she won the TVG, she won the Breeders Crown, she's never been beaten this year, and she's still not on there. Is it because I'm English? I'm not an American. I don't know, but I'm beginning to think it's biased."