Woodbine Mohawk Park: Top trotters sharp in OSS regular season finale

The Ontario Sires Stakes Gold Series regular season came to a close at Woodbine Mohawk Park on Monday, Oct. 4 with two Gold Series divisions for the 2-year-old trotting fillies and one for the 2-year-old trotting colts and geldings.

Dabra Day kicked things off in the first C$99,800 trotting filly division, notching her third Gold Series win with an effortless 1:57 effort for driver Louis-Philippe Roy. The favorite hit the wire 2 1/2 lengths ahead of Resolving, and Lilys Lass was four more lengths back in third.

"Actually tonight I was a little worried because she loves her couple hours of paddock in the morning, but it was pretty nasty and the paddocks were too bad. We couldn't turn her out (today); we just had to walk her, but it didn't seem to bother her at all this time," said trainer Meg Crone. "She's just finally getting it all together, I hope."

Crone trains the quirky Kadabra filly for W. J. Donovan and Purnel And Libby LLC. With her perfect record of three wins in three Gold Series starts, Dabra Day heads into the Oct. 16 Super Final in second spot in the standings with 150 points.

Adare Castle will lead the 2-year-old trotting fillies into the postseason, and the Muscle Mass daughter recorded her fourth Gold Series win in the second C$100,600 division on Monday. Driver James MacDonald sent Adare Castle to the front heading by the half and the favorite held off pocket-sitter Mischevious Rose in the stretch to halt the teletimer in a personal-best 1:54 2/5. Grace finished 7 1/4 lengths back in third.

"That's a pretty good mile tonight, and I don't want to say I expected it. I just expected her to race good," said trainer Mark Etsell, who noted the filly had been battling an infection heading into the Sept. 19 Gold Leg at Flamboro Downs, where she finished second. "I schooled her here last Tuesday against a couple pretty nice 3-year-olds that are in tonight, and she went right with them, so I kind of figured she was back on top of her game. And this morning she was bouncing around and acting kind of sharp, so I said to James, 'I think she's back.'"

Etsell shares ownership of Adare Castle with Robert Newton, Graham Hopkins, and Peter Porter and said the filly's success over the last four months has been just what the doctor ordered for the group.

"Everybody's had a lot of fun, and a couple of the guys needed a little bit of a pick up," said Etsell. "Their health wasn't that good this year, and I think it was just the right filly and the right time for everybody."

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Division leader Logan Park wrapped up the Ontario Sires Stakes action with his fourth Gold Series victory in the C$155,600 sophomore trotting colt and gelding showdown, reeling in pace-setting favorite Fashion Frenzie in the stretch for a 1:53 2/5 score. Lexus Kody finished six lengths behind the duelling leaders in third. All three geldings are by sire Archangel.

James MacDonald engineered the win for trainer Rob Fellows, a fact that caused Fellows a few moments of regret in the winner's circle.

"He raced good. He got a perfect steer and he got out," said Fellows. "But I feel really bad, because Jody (Jamieson) has been driving him all year and doing a fantastic job, and just the way it turned out, he wasn't available to school him, or race him tonight, and then he was. I had already made arrangements to get James (MacDonald), but it's kind of bittersweet."

Logan Park wrapped up the regular season with 212 points, and Fellows is hoping the gelding is back on track after a mid-season lull.

"Horses don't maintain their form all year. It's really hard on them, the changing weather, but hopefully he can keep racing for a little bit longer and then he'll get a well-deserved winter off," said the trainer, who shares ownership of the gelding with his partners in the Outofthepark Stable, Reg Higgs, and Arpad Szabo. "Hopefully he's going to make some noise as a 4-year-old."

Logan Park, Adare Castle and Dabra Day, along with their top 10 point-earning peers, will return to Woodbine Mohawk Park on Saturday, Oct. 16 for their respective C$225,000 Super Finals.

--press release (Ontario Sires Stakes)--