by Greg Blanchard, WEG media

Toronto, ON — Mr Coolie converted from a pocket trip while Beautiful Soul scored a dramatic come-from-behind victory in Saturday’s (Feb. 13) first leg of the Ontario Boys Pacing Series for 4-year-olds at Woodbine Racetrack.

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Beautiful Soul stopped Call Tag in their Ontario Boys Pacing Series split.

Beautiful Soul was heavily favored in the opening C$20,000 split but got off to a slow start from the outside post nine and trailed the field for much of the mile. As the field turned for home, it was 50-1 longshot Call Tag loose on the lead with Beautiful Soul still sitting seventh along the inside and almost seven lengths from the front.

Driver Paul MacDonell finally found clearance for the son of Northern Luck-Andoullie and he fired home with a :28.2 final quarter to salvage the win by a length over Call Tag with Seeyanthefunnys garnering the show spot. The winner stopped the timer in 1:54.1 and returned a popular $3.30.

It was the first win in three outings this season for the Kevin Benn trainee who is owned by Mark Powell. The winner’s share of the purse sent his career earnings to just over C$58,000.

In the second division, Mr Coolie left sharply to grab the early lead for driver Doug McNair before yielding to favorite Justalittleluck in the second quarter. The son of No Pan Intended-Armbro Vertical followed the pacesetter the rest of the way before tipping out in mid-stretch to score by three-quarters of a length over Justalittleluck in 1:54.2 with Lakers Vett landing the show spot.

It was the first victory since 2008 for Mr Coolie who is co-owned by trainer Gregg McNair along with Ian Fleming. He kicked back $11.60 while increasing his lifetime earnings to just over C$67,000.

The second leg of the Ontario Boys Pacing Series will go postward next Saturday night (Feb. 20) at Woodbine.