Milton, ON – Green Manalishi S offspring Bingo Night and Flowing Tribute were the respective 1:54.4 winners of the two C$90,000 Ontario Sires Stakes (OSS) Gold events for 2-year-old trotting fillies on Friday (July 11) at Woodbine Mohawk Park. It was the first Gold event of the year in this division.
In the first Gold event, overwhelming 2-5 favourite Bingo Night (above) overcame being parked the entire mile and still managed to pull away in the stretch to post a career-best victory to remain undefeated through two lifetime starts.
Tyler Jones drove the homebred daughter out of Cant Stop Tommi to victory in the field of six for his father, trainer and co-owner Dustin Jones of Hamilton, ON, who shares Bingo Night’s breeding and owning credits with Hebert Horses Inc. of Montreal. Sjoblom Racing Inc. of Delray Beach, FL is also a part-owner, but did not participate in Bingo Night’s breeding.
Tyler told Woodbine’s Chad Rozema in the winner’s circle that he was impressed with Bingo Night’s effort, but much less impressed with his drive.
“That was disgusting on my part, to be honest,” Tyler said of his drive. “I was just trying to be easy on her to get in the first turn and Louis [Roy, driving Lo And Behold] had a little struggle with his filly and I had to wait for him to kind of bear out of the way. Then, by the time that happened, there was no options left for me, and just had to kind of creep forward and creep forward. All credit to the filly. That was unbelievable.”
Tyler said he was purposely being careful with Bingo Night off the gate because she’s a 2-year-old trotting filly making only her second pari-mutuel start.
“If you push her off the gate and she springs and then she makes a break, then I look like a fool,” Tyler said. “It was my idea just take my time and get [to the front] when I get there. And I never did, but we got there at the wire.”
Canukeepasecret led the field to the :28 quarter, but Barbara May took over, with Bingo Night parked in second, as the field hit the half in :57.2 and the three-quarters in 1:26.
Bingo Night won by 3-1/2 lengths.
At the wire, a photo for place determined Very Sassy (Todd Ratchford) edged out Cupid Hall (Rick Zeron). There was also a photo for fourth, which saw Barbara May (Doug McNair) get to the wire inches in front of Canukeepasecret (Jody Jamieson).
Bingo Night now has earnings of C$53,000.
In the second Gold event, the battle was essentially between the 6-5 favourite, M E Laurel (James MacDonald) and 3-1 Flowing Tribute (Bob McClure). The latter took the early lead off the gate as both Twin B Showbiz and Social Wizard made breaks. M E Laurel was parked early, but MacDonald moved her to the front with authority not long after Flowing Tribute led the field to the :28.1 quarter.
M E Laurel took the group of seven through both the :57.3 half and the 1:28 three-quarters with McClure sitting patiently in second with Flowing Tribute. In the stretch, Flowing Tribute popped out of the pocket and accelerated to a 2-1/4-length victory. M E Laurel held for second. Cher Hill was third and Calgary Morning and Slim Daisy picked up the final two cheques, respectively.
It was the first career victory in her first pari-mutuel start for Flowing Tribute, a filly out of Watch The Show. Flowing Tribute was bred by Diane Ingham of Mount Pleasant, ON and Brenda Barnim of St. George, ON. The Paul Reid trainee is owned by Patrick Dillion of Port Hope, ON, Laurie Rooney of Deleon Spring, FL, Brian Kleinberg of Madison, NJ and Richard Beinhauer of Venetia, PA. The group purchased Flowing Tribute for C$30,000 at the 2024 London Classic Yearling Sale.