by Mark McKelvie, WEG Communications

Campbellville, ON — Beyond Delight, driven by Sylvain Filion, surged to the lead in deep stretch to win the C$661,000 Metro Pace for 2-year-old males on Saturday night (Sept. 3) at Mohawk Racetrack.

After breaking his maiden in the Metro elimination, Beyond Delight carried that momentum to a 6-1 upset in the rich final for trainer Tony O’Sullivan and owners Jeffrey and Michael Snyder and Four Friends Racing Stable LLC.

Beyond Delight was a 1:51.3 winner in the Metro Pace.

Beyond Delight got away sixth in the field of 10 and was able to cruise along behind a hot pace on the front. Windsong Napoleon cut an opening quarter of :26.4, but surrendered the lead immediately to Classic Pro, who was wide around the first turn.

Ocean Colony, the even money favorite, brushed from third to first in the second quarter, but Windsong Napoleon was quickly removed to press the public’s choice at the half in :54.2.

Beyond Delight was angled off the pylons just after the half to follow the cover of Ideal Wheel, who was quickly rushing up on Windsong Napoleon. Ocean Colony turned aside the first-over challenger and reached the three-quarter pole in 1:22.4, while Ideal Wheel and Beyond Delight were three-wide turning for home.

In the stretch, Ocean Colony’s lead was quickly erased, as several horses swallowed up the leader, including a charging Beyond Delight on the far outside. The O’Sullivan trainee took the lead in the final eighth and stormed home strongly in :27.3 to win by a length in a time of 1:51.3.

“The pace was pretty hot, which was pretty good for us,” said Filion following the victory. “I was able to get a decent trip and I knew the way he raced last week, if we could just get a decent trip we had a good shot at it.”

Darling’s Dragon, the longest shot in the field at 60-1, stayed along the rail until splitting rivals late to finish second. Ideal Wheel was third, while Classic Pro was fourth.

A son of Bettor’s Delight, out of the Rocknroll Hanover mare Outtathisworld, Beyond Delight was winless in seven starts prior to the Metro Pace eliminations, but found his best stride at the perfect time of the season.

“I’m actually speechless. He raced great,” said O’Sullivan. “Like I said last week, he wasn’t one of our better ones early on and he’s gotten better and better.

“That’s the pleasure of training babies and the satisfaction we all get out of it and to cap it off like this, it’s unreal and I’m very happy.”

Beyond Delight was a $50,000 yearling purchase at last year’s Standardbred Horse Sale in Harrisburg. Following the Metro victory, the Bettor’s Delight colt has two wins in nine starts and boosts his earnings to C$370,568.

Beyond Delight’s victory gives Filion his second Metro Pace title and O’Sullivan his first.

A $2 win ticket on Beyond Delight returned $14.70.

Idyllic Beach proved that the apple didn’t fall far from the tree when she captured the C$427,000 She’s A Great Lady final for 2-year-old pacing fillies on Saturday night at Mohawk, which is part of the Canadian Pacing Derby undercard.

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Idyllic Beach followed in her mother’s hoofprints and won the She’s A Great Lady in a new lifetime best of 1:50.3.

The Jimmy Takter trained Idyllic Beach is the daughter of the great Somebeachsomewhere and Idyllic, who captured the She’s A Great Lady in 2010.

Idyllic Beach and driver Yannick Gingras got away third but never settled in along the rail as World Apart led the field past the opening panel in :27. In the first turn, Gingras then marched Idyllic Beach to the front and held command past the half in :55.3 and three-quarters in 1:23.2.

Agent Q, who launched a first-up attack from fourth at the half, added pressure to the tempo-setter in the final turn and into the stretch, but Idyllic Beach fought her off to score the lion’s share of the purse by half a length in a career best clocking of 1:50.3. Agent Q finished second and Candlelight Dinner stayed for third.

“I really didn’t know going to the gate what I was going to do,” offered Gingras from the winner’s circle. “The inside three left pretty hard so that made my job pretty easy. That way they took the outside speed out of the race. At the eighth pole, I knew I would be cutting the mile.”

The freshman pacing miss scored her fifth victory in six outings, which includes wins in her She’s A Great Lady elimination and Pennsylvania Sires Stakes divisions. With the win, she also lifts her bankroll to C$316,262 for her owners.

“Jimmy knew she was a good filly all the way down,” said Marvin Katz, who shares ownership with Christina Takter, John Fielding, and Brixton Medical Inc. “Every time I would speak to him in the winter time he said she was a top filly. He was confident in her abilities. Just when she started to qualify, he just had to get her settled a little bit and she got a little anxious early on, but he was very confident about her abilities most of the way down.”

Idyllic Beach returned $2.80 to win.