from the Ontario Sires Stakes

Campbellville, ON — Mohawk Racetrack hosted an Ontario Sires Stakes doubleheader on Monday night (Sept. 28) as the 3-year-old trotting colt and 2-year-old pacing filly Gold Series competitors wrapped up their regular season over the Campbellville oval.

Last year’s 2-year-old trotting colt champion Dont Rush had captured one Grassroots and two Gold Series trophies heading into Monday’s contest and the Infinitif son captured a fourth with a 1:54.4 effort that trainer Dustin Jones felt was his best of the campaign.

“That was his best race of the year. He was first over off a slow half and trotted his last quarter in :27.4,” said Jones. “I am real happy with his effort.”

From post three Dont Rush and driver Chris Christoforou got away fifth and the fan favorites started to advance on pacesetter Hemi Seelster heading for the :58 half. Hemi Seelster continued to lead the field at the 1:26.3 three-quarters, with Dont Rush closing the gap on the outside, and when the pair straightened out for home they were separated by a neck.

Hemi Seelster put up a fierce battle, but Dont Rush was able to find an extra gear, reaching the wire a quarter-length ahead of his rival. Caulfield finished 3-3/4 lengths behind the battling leaders in third.

“He trotted his last half in :55 and change,” noted Jones, who shares ownership of Dont Rush with Greg Judson.

In 11 starts this season Dont Rush has posted four wins and two thirds for earnings of $124,631. Monday’s win bumped him to the top of the division standings with 155 points.

Rubber Duck finished the regular season the same way he started, capturing a Gold Series trophy with a first over effort. From post two, driver Jack Moiseyev settled Rubber Duck in fourth as Olympic Son rolled out to a :28 opening quarter. When fan favorite Luck O The Irish took over heading toward the :57 half Moiseyev sent Rubber Duck up the outside and the pair were just a half-length behind the pacesetter at the 1:25.4 three-quarters.

Powering off the final turn Rubber Duck accelerated away to a 4-1/4 length victory in 1:54.4. Winning Wizard closed hard to grab second, leaving Luck O The Irish to settle for third. All three colts finished in the top 10 and will advance to the Oct. 10 Super Final at Woodbine Racetrack.

Moiseyev engineered Rubber Duck’s third win of the season for trainer Julie Walker and owners Blair and Erna Corbeil. The Muscle Mass son also has one second, four thirds and earnings of $109,402 in 13 sophomore starts.

The other 3-year-old trotting colt Gold division saw Setanta go gate-to-wire in 1:54.4 for his first-ever Ontario Sires Stakes victory. Steve Condren guided the Kadabra son to the half-length victory over favorite Muscle Up The Goal and Stormont Wizard on behalf of trainer Alan Richardson and his partner Jeffery Ruch.

The win boosted Setanta from 13th to ninth in the division standings, earning him one of 10 spots in the C$250,000 Super Final on Oct. 10.

The 2-year-old pacing filly divisions saw a pair of sharp front end performances laid down by division star L A Delight and relative newcomer Good Will Hanover.

Starting from post six in the first $78,750 division, L A Delight and driver Randy Waples took command of the race before the :56.4 half and never faced a challenge, cruising home 1-1/2 length winners in 1:53.3. Free Show was content to trail along behind L A Delight into second and Twin B Thong completed the top three.

The victory was L A Delight’s tenth straight, a win streak which started in a Grassroots division at Mohawk on July 9 and has extended through two Gold Legs, a leg and the final of the Whenuwishuponastar Series, divisions of the Eternal Camnation and Champlain Stakes, and the elimination and final of the She’s A Great Lady Stake. The Bettor’s Delight daughter is trained by Hall of Fame horseman Bob McIntosh, who also bred and owns the winner of $436,877 in partnership with C S X Stables and Al McIntosh Holdings Inc.

In the second freshman pacing filly division Good Will Hanover and driver Paul MacDonell fired straight to the front from post four and reeled off fractions of :27, :56.2 and 1:24.4 on their way to a 3-1/4 length victory in 1:52.3. Heavenly Hill and Maniana paced into second and third.

“The owners are all up here. It’s the first time they came up, so they’re very happy,” said Dr. Ian Moore, who conditions Good Will Hanover for GLB Stable. “We’re very pleased and we’re looking forward to the Super Finals. She’s the only one we have in any of the finals this year.”

The win was the first in Gold Series action for Good Will Hanover, who captured a Grassroots division at Mohawk on Aug. 24 and finished second in her Gold Series debut at Grand River Raceway on Sept. 7. In her other three starts, the Big Jim daughter posted a pair of overnight victories at Mohawk and finished second in the Champlain division captured by L A Delight.

The feisty filly moved from 15th to eighth in the division standings with the win, and Moore is hoping she can deliver a strong effort in the Super Final in spite of the additional challenges she will face at Woodbine.

“Those planes are pretty loud and we have to keep her plugged up so she hears nothing, so hopefully that won’t become an issue,” said the trainer. “And I can time it so that I get here (Mohawk) say 25 minutes before we need to go out and just throw the harness on and go out, so she doesn’t have time to get worked up. Well you can’t do that at Woodbine, you’ve got to be there a little earlier because of the traffic obviously, so I don’t know, we’ll do what we can do and hopefully she won’t tear herself apart. She’s got lots of energy and hopefully she’ll conserve it for the race.”

On Tuesday evening the 2-year-old trotting colts and 3-year-old trotting fillies will have their last opportunity to qualify for Super Final night. The trotters are featured in races one, two, three, five and seven on the Mohawk Racetrack program, which gets underway at 7:25 p.m.