by Sandra Snyder

Campbellville, ON — Yellow Diamond took the first step toward defending her Gold Final title with a 2-1/2 length victory in the second of two C$40,000 Gold Eliminations at Mohawk Racetrack on Friday evening.

The 3-year-old pacing filly and driver Mark MacDonald floated away from post 5 and landed fifth on the rail in the field of seven, as Topaz Seelster maintained rail control through a :27.2 opening quarter. Heading for the :55.1 half, Topaz Seelster ceded the front-end view to Yellow Diamond’s stablemate Shacked Up, who carried the fillies to a 1:23.1 three-quarters.

MacDonald sent Yellow Diamond up the outside behind Cheap Motel, another stablemate from the Tracy Brainard barn, and the pair marched along to the top of the stretch where Yellow Diamond tipped out and powered home to the 1:52 victory.

Shacked Up finished behind her stablemate in second, with My Red High Heels completing the triactor. Fourth-place finisher Cheap Motel and fifth-place finisher Topaz Seelster also advanced to next week’s Gold Final from the second elimination.

Brainard trains Yellow Diamond, Shacked Up and Cheap Motel for Bulletproof Enterprises of Boca Raton, FL. Yellow Diamond is a homebred daughter of Western Terror and Mattatonic, who has amassed a record of nine wins, two seconds and four thirds in 16 sophomore starts.

The Brainard/Bulletproof combination also swept the top two spots in the first elimination, as Kabbalah Karen B reached the wire 2-1/4 lengths ahead of stablemate Coming Late.

Sylvain Filion piloted Kabbalah Karen B to her first Gold Elimination win, easing the filly away from post 6 and sitting last through the first half of the race. Last year’s division champion St Lads Popcorn did all the hard work up front, carving out fractions of :27.1, :56.4 and 1:26.1, but could not hold off the cavalry charge to the wire.

Kabbalah Karen B trailed Northern Duchess up the outside and laid down a :27.2 last quarter to secure the victory, halting the Mohawk teletimer at 1:54.1 over an off track rated two seconds slower than normal. Coming Late finished second, with Northern Duchess earning the third-place share. Mistreos and St Lads Popcorn completed the field for the C$130,000 Gold Final.

Through 18 starts this season, Kabbalah Karen B boasts four wins, three seconds and two thirds. Prior to Friday’s effort, the homebred daughter of Western Terror and Mib Hanover’s most recent outing was a fourth-place effort in the Jugette on Sept. 23 in Delaware, OH.

The fillies will take their high speed show to Woodbine Racetrack next Friday, Oct. 9, competing in the last Gold Final of their careers. The top 10 point earners from the regular season will then return to Woodbine on Nov. 14 for the C$300,000 Super Final.