Milton, ON — Sent the third longest shot in the betting, Marcus Melander trainee Bourbonista S bounded off the gate from post 9 for a pocket seat and shook free at the right time spinning for home to dart through a wide inside gap and crush her competition in the C$215,000 Grade 2 Armbro Flight, for older trotting mares, at Woodbine Mohawk Park on Saturday night (June 13).
Driver Dexter Dunn dashed forward with Bourbonista S alongside post 10 starter Champagne Problems to brush over the field early barreling for a :26.1 first quarter. Champagne Problems pushed to the lead over Bourbonista S and coasted up the backstretch towards a :55.1 half, where 3-5 favorite Warrawee Michelle flushed off the pylons from fourth as Miracle Maven and Bravo Angel S loomed forward on the outside from the back.
Champagne Problems shortened stride rounding the last turn, thrusting Warrawee Michelle to the fore passing three-quarters in 1:23.2 while Miracle Maven fanned three wide and Bourbonista S maneuvered out from the pocket into a tight seam. Warrawee Michelle set down for the finish with Bourbonista S in the wings, and once Champagne Problems faded out of the mix Dunn had ample room to the pylons to unleash his charge approaching the final eighth. Bourbonista S bounded towards the lead and opened a wide advantage over her peers under a comfortable hold by Dunn to the finish to register a handy 1:50.4 lifetime-best performance by 4-1/4 lengths. Miracle Maven took second with Warrawee Michelle in third and Dial Square S in fourth following a disqualification of Bravo Angel S from second to 10th due to causing interference in the first turn.
“Marcus [Melander] and the team have done a great job with her,” said Dexter Dunn, who earned his first victory in the Armbro Flight with this win. “We left out pretty hot in the first quarter but she travelled great the whole way. If the first quarter wasn’t so hard I might’ve looked to remove her – we burned a lot of gas there getting out from the wide draw. I didn’t like my spot coming off the turn, though. I was in a bit of trouble, but we got lucky and she really exploded once she got clear. She’s big and strong, and she’s been getting better and better. There was no reason for me not to be confident with her.”
A 5-year-old mare by Face Time Bourbon out of the Joke Face mare Affinity Kronos, Bourbonista S won her second race from six starts this season and her seventh race from 27 starts in her career, banking $259,511. She is owned by Deo Volente Farms LLC and breeder Panamera Racing, and she shattered her previous lifetime best of 1:54, taken in December of last year when with trainer Noel Daley and equaled in her 2026 debut; her first start for trainer Marcus Melander.
“She showed a lot of potential in Sweden as a 4-year-old before she was brought over here,” said Marcus Melander, who also nabbed his first win in the Armbro Flight. “We just put her in our program for about three months and then qualified and just started to race her. She’s been building up nicely – last time at The Meadowlands we pulled the shoes for the first time and today was the second time, so she got a lot quicker when we did that.”
Bourbonista S, imported to North America in November of 2025 following a campaign in Sweden where she finished prominently behind eventual 2026 Elitloppet champion Allegiant, paid $89.60 to win.
Watch the Armbro Flight replay