by Greg Gangle, WEG Communications

Toronto, ON — The opening round of the Youthful Series kicked off on Monday evening (March 25) at Woodbine with Orillia Joe and Classic Gent finding the wire first. In doing so, the pair also lowered their career marks.

New Image Media photo

Orillia Joe was a 1:52.4 winner in the fastest Youthful Series division.

In the first division, Orillia Joe, driven by Paul MacDonell, went gate-to-wire in 1:52.4.

The son of Western Ideal led through panels of :27, :56.1 and 1:24.3, before using a :28.1 final frame to seal the victory by a half-length. Glammit (Mike Saftic) enjoyed a pocket trip to finish second, over Traumatized (James MacDonald).

Trained by Dean Nixon and owned by his son, Jacob, along with breeder Michael Timpano, Orillia Joe enjoyed his sixth career win as his earnings climbed to $52,809. The bay gelding now has a 5-0-2 record from nine starts this season.

He paid $3.80 to win.

Later on the card, Classic Gent, driven by Doug McNair, cruised to victory in 1:54.

The homebred son of Blissful Hall was parked past the opening panel in :27.1, but cleared to the front before the half in :56.3 and never looked back as he marched past three-quarters in 1:25.3 en route to a 2-1/2 length victory. Shark Fantasy (Roger Mayotte) finished second with Poppy’s Pal (Sylvain Filion) third.

Classic Gent now remains undefeated in seven starts this season with $49,068 in career earnings for trainer Stan Malec, who owns Classic Farms.

He paid $11.40 to win.

The Youthful is for 3-year-old pacing colts and geldings who were non-winners of three races or C$15,000 in 2012. The second leg of the series is scheduled for Thursday (April 4), with the C$30,000 final slated for Saturday (April 13).