by Jeff Renton, media/communications, the Woodbine Entertainment Group

Toronto, ON — With Mario Baillargeon at the helm, McCabe Hall picked a perfect time to put in a maiden-breaking performance, as he fired off of cover in the lane to capture the C$56,600 final of the Dream Maker Series for two-year-old pacers in 1:53³ on Tuesday evening at Woodbine.

WEG Photo

McCabe Hall wins a tight finish in the Dream Maker Series Final on Tuesday at Woodbine.

Sitting fourth as Make My Day (Chris Christoforou) set down opening fractions of :28², :57³ and 1:25², Baillargeon followed the cover of Shanghai Phil, as Paul MacDonell had him on a first-over bid through the final turn. Tipping out in the lane, Baillargeon and the son of Cambest showed late closing speed as they bested a tight group at the wire while racing four-wide.

Once the clock was stopped, there was a lengthy judges’ inquiry into the stretch drive. It had appeared that Weiss Hanover (George Brennan), part of a three-horse entry, may have violated the inner pylon rule while boxed in on the rail. When the decision came down, the judges deemed that no violation had occurred and Weiss Hanover, a son of Western Hanover, would remain on the board.

It was a head victory for McCabe Hall ($16.00, $7.80, $3.00) over Mr Delight ($4.70, $2.10), who was in rein to Randy Waples and completed the $88.20 exactor. Weiss Hanover ($2.10) was a neck back in third and finished the $136.40 triactor. Make My Day was fourth by a neck and Shanghai Phil, who finished fifth, was just a half length back.

“He was a maiden and we could of raced him last night,” said McCabe Hall’s co-owning trainer Ben Wallace, “but as I mentioned, I thought there would be too much pressure on him in a maiden. He would have been 4-5 or something and we wouldn’t be able to race him maybe the way we would have wanted to. We put him in here and there was no pressure. Mario raced him accordingly and we were very fortunate that it worked out in our best interest.”

Wallace, who holds McCabe Hall’s ownership papers with fellow Milton resident Brad Grant, continued on about the bay colt, indicating that he had come up a little sick after the opening leg and that he may be pointed towards the Metro Pace in late August at Woodbine.

“I’m not making excuses for the horse, but he wasn’t 100 per cent when we raced him (in the opening leg),” Wallace said of McCabe Hall, who is out of Modelaag and has $25,708 in earnings via a 1-1-1 record from three starts.

“I took my time and cleaned him up and we schooled him over at Mohawk (this past) Friday and he seemed good. I had no concerns about tonight. You do miss a week and a routine and you don’t now how much that is going to affect him.”

“I think so,” Wallace said about McCabe Hall being positioned for the Metro Pace. “I don’t know if I would put him on a truck and send him 1,000 miles from here, but it is in our own backyard and certainly we will take a run at them.”

Ritchie fortunate to escape serious injury

Trevor Ritchie’s back is sore, his knee swollen, his elbow scraped and his ribs tender enough that it’s difficult to turn onto his side, but otherwise he feels fine.

Ritchie was tossed from his sulky in Monday night’s tenth race after two horses in front of him touched wheels resulting in Jody Jamieson’s horse R Js Dexter veering into Ritchie’s pacer Syrius B.

“I think Jody’s horse touched a wheel in front of him and his horse’s head went down and when he grabbed his horse, he basically stopped. I was following him and I couldn’t miss him,” explained Ritchie. “We hooked wheels and I got tossed out of the bike. Then Mario (Baillargeon), who was back quite a ways because his horse (Jay Crew) had made a break long before this ever happened, pulled hard on the right line to try and get wide enough, but he just ran right over top of me. He was doing his best to get by me, but I was thrown directly into his line. There was nothing he could do about it. I’m going to guess I got his horse’s knee in my back because I felt a thud. That’s what is bothering me right now. The other bruises and scrapes aren’t bad, but my rib cage and back are. Overall, things worked out a whole lot better than they could have.”

A fitness buff, Ritchie did some exercises and rode his stationary bike for 30 minutes Tuesday afternoon to help loosen up his body.

“I’m hoping if I keep moving it will work its way out quick,” said Ritchie, who didn’t visit a doctor. “I’m just filling myself full of Advil.”

As for when he’ll resume driving, the Acton resident is planning on taking it day-to-day. He wasn’t scheduled to drive Tuesday evening at Woodbine, but is booked on two Ontario Sires Stakes trotters at Windsor on Wednesday evening. He will wait and see how he feels Wednesday morning before determining his status.

Fortunately, both horses involved in the mishap escaped relatively unscathed. R Js Dexter was caught soon thereafter, while Syrius B traveled full circle around the track before dislodging his sulky as he headed towards the infield where he took a brief dip in one of Woodbine’s infield ponds. He was quickly removed and his trainer Cal Campbell reported that the four-year-old had only one scrape on a hind leg.

— Bruce Murray contributed to this report