Woodbine Mohawk Park: Rookie trotters go for Gold in OSS opener

In the first C$70,533 Ontario Sires Stakes Gold Series division for 2-year-old male trotters on Monday at Woodbine Mohawk Park, a pair of Muscle Mass colts engaged in an exciting stretch duel, with Mass Market taking advantage of a pocket trip to win by a neck over odds-on favorite Snowpiercer.

Trevor Henry settled Mass Market into second after leaving from rail position, while Paul MacDonell moved Snowpiercer to the front from post five and led for most of the mile, setting fractions of 29 1/5, 59 1/5, and 1:28 3/5 along the way. Henry tipped out Mass Market as the pair entered the stretch, and he moved in front just before the wire, winning in a final time of 1:56 1/5.

"I knew going into tonight he had a good shot. He's a nice colt," said Henry. "With Paul's horse, it's tough with a young horse on the front, they get a little green, and that's probably the reason I picked him off late."

Both colts showed strong closing speed, with final panels of 27 1/5 and 27 3/5, respectively. Trainer John Bax was proud of Snowpiercer's effort in just his second career start.

"He doesn't know what he's doing yet. He just looks like a big goofy kid out there," said Bax. "They sprinted home, and he took him on. At some point you'd like to not be on the front-end, and have him pick somebody off, but he looks like he's going to be around all year."

Trainer Robert McIntosh co-owns Mass Market with Douglas McIntosh and Randy Liepa. Bax Stable co-owns Snowpiercer with Brad Grant, David Anderson, and Richard Gutnick.

The Great Emotion rounded out the top three, closing in 27 1/5 for driver Louis-Philippe Roy. Cassandra Lecourt trains and owns the Lookslikeachpndale colt.

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Bax got another trip from the front in the second C$70,533 Gold division, and the second time around, 3-5 favorite Oh Look Magic won by three lengths over his nearest rival.

Doug McNair made a move with second choice Osceola to challenge early, but the Muscle Mass colt went off-stride in his attempt, and James MacDonald piloted Oh Look Magic to fractions of 28 2/5, 59 2/5, and 1:28 2/5 before closing in 28 3/5 for the gate-to-wire win.

The Lookslikeachpndale colt, has now led at the quarter-mile marker in both his pari-mutuel efforts and lone qualifier.

"I think it showed tonight that he'd been to the front, because he wanted to go there again," said Bax. "Going forward we are going to have to work on that."

Bax Stable owns the gelding with Glengate Farms and Cavalier Stable.

A pair of longshots finished second and third. Jody Jamieson piloted 28-1 shot Passarino to a closing panel of 27 2/5 to overtake 64-1 third-place finisher Airborne (Wheeling N Dealin) in the stretch. Passarino is a Lookslikeachpndale colt trained by Ted Macdonell. Macdonell co-owns with breeder Seawind Amg Stbs. Trevor Henry drove Airborne, a Frederick Clarke homebred for trainer Blake Macintosh, in his third-place effort.

The final C$71,434 Gold division went in race seven, where Dowedealinandwhy was victorious. Sent off as the odds-on favorite, the Wheeling N Dealin gelding was guided to the early pocket position by Sylvain Filion after leaving from the rail. The Rob Fellows trainee sat behind Deadline Hall, who Chris Christoforou sent to the early lead from post eight. Deadline Hall set a first panel of 29 seconds, and Filion moved Dowedealinandwhy just past the quarter-mile marker with a strong first up move.

"Any time you have the rail with a 2-year-old trotter, you don't know how they are going to act," said Fellows. "We were cautious because you don't want to get away fifth and come first-up for a half-mile. It was more of a see what happens."

After a soft second panel of 31 2/5, Lookslikeadream (Lookslikeachpndale) tried to overtake the leader, but Dowedealinandwhy was up for the challenge, and powered home in 27 2/5 for a winning time of 1:58.

"(Sylvain) cut out very nice fractions for him, and he was able to sprint in the lane," said Fellows. "Now it's all about keeping him healthy and sound for the rest of the season."

Dowedealinandwhy now has two wins from two starts and $43,717 in earnings for owners Yolanda Fellows and Irene Carey.

John Bax's strong night continued with Deadline Hall's runner-up finish. Bax Stable, Steve Organ, and Rick Heinz own the Muscle Mass gelding. Muscle Mass colt Templeton was third for trainer Jonas Czernyson. James MacDonald was in the race bike for Czernyson's fellow owners Aldebaran Park Inc, and L Berg Inc.

--press release (Ontario Sires Stakes)--