by Greg Blanchard. WEG Media

Campbellville, ON — The big guns coming into Thursday’s (Sept. 10) pair of Simcoe Stakes divisions at Mohawk Racetrack were Elusive Desire and Windsong Soprano and both fillies emerged victorious in their respective splits.

Elusive Desire defeated Yursa Hanover in a time of 1:54.4 in the opening division.

In the opening C$128,584 contest, Elusive Desire had to work much harder than expected to score for driver Paul MacDonell in 1:54.4. The daughter of Angus Hall-Valley Amber attempted a move to the front in the second quarter but was left parked out by a headstrong Yursa Hanover who took the field past the second marker in a brisk :55.4.

Elusive Desire appeared stalled and was losing ground to the leader at the third panel in 1:25.1, but the champion filly was able to summon more in the stretch and eventually forged past Yursa Hanover in the late stages for the win. Yursa Hanover held the place spot with Keep The Spirit rounding out the top three. The winner returned $4.10.

“She came up with a stone bruise and was racing on a sore foot tonight,” said winning trainer Mike Keeling. “She just showed me that she has the heart of a good one tonight. We’ll let her tell us what she’s ready for from here. There’s another Gold (O.S.S.) and then the Breeders Crown. That’s what we really want to go after.”

Elusive Desire has now won eight times in 13 outings this season for P C Wellwood Enterprises Inc., Charles Armstrong and Robert Fasken. The winner’s share of the purse boosted her past C$498,000 in seasonal earnings and C$893,000 lifetime.

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Windsong Soprano took the nightcap for Steve Condren in 1:55.2.

Recent Hudson Filly Trot champion Windsong Soprano overcame a trailing post 11 start in the second division for driver Steve Condren to prevail in 1:55.2. The daughter of Windsong’s Legacy-Muscling In followed second-over cover through a pedestrian three-quarters of 1:28 before firing home with a blistering :27.2 final quarter to win by a whopping nine lengths. Longshots Magic Sassy and Serenas Genie rallied to finish second and third, respectively. The winner kicked back a popular $3.40 for the win.

“They (the other fillies) must not have been on their game tonight because I thought they’d make it more of a horse race (off the fractions),” said Condren. “It just worked out really great for us.

“Basically, she only had to race a quarter of a mile and she can sprint with the best of them. I’m just glad she got a fairly easy race into her because she’s had a fairly tough campaign the last few weeks.”

Windsong Soprano has now won seven of her 10 starts this season for trainer Bob McIntosh and owner Lothlorien. The win bumped her earnings to just over C$465,000 this season and slightly more than C$810,000 lifetime.