by Karen Briggs, WEG Media

CAMPBELLVILLE, ON – Jody Jamieson and Legacy N Diamonds won the first of three C$113,883 divisions of the Champlain Stakes for freshman pacing colts at Mohawk on Saturday night.

Second favorite Lyons Geoff, driven by Dave Miller, took the early lead through an easy first fraction of 28.0, but by the 3/8 of a mile point he had relinquished it to a charging Legacy N Diamonds, who widened his advantage to three lengths around the far turn. Behind them, 6-5 favorite Keystone Horatio, with Randy Waples at the lines, got stuck in traffic, as did Johnny Drama and Chris Christoforou, and when Keystone Horatio was forced to come three-wide, he had nothing left to draw upon, leaving Legacy N Diamonds free and clear all the way to the wire in 1:52.4.

A late rush gave Romantic Thriller (Steve Condren) the place ticket, and Lyons Geoff hung on for third.

Jamieson says soundness issues have held back the promising Legacy N Diamonds until recently. “With any 2-year-old racing on this track, they come in and they get a couple of starts under their belts, and they’ve got to go fast and they get a little sore. He’s got the same problem as anybody else. Tonight he was good though. When I moved him in the first turn he just grabbed right hold of the bit and was pretty good right to the wire.”

Carl Jamieson trains and co-owns Legacy N Diamonds along with Ken Henwood of Mississauga, Ontario. The son of The Panderosa is three for six this year.