by John Siscos, WEG communications

Toronto, ON — In a stakes record clocking of 1:49.3, 3-year-old filly Monkey On My Wheel pulled off a 5-1 upset in the $500,000 Breeders Crown sophomore filly pace final on Saturday night (Oct. 29) at Woodbine Racetrack.

USTA/Mark Hall photo

Monkey On My Wheel was an upset winner in the Breeders Crown sophomore filly pace.

Driven to victory by Jody Jamison, the Travis Umphrey trainee scored her seventh victory of the season in 17 starts, while also taking a new lifetime mark.

Monkey On My Wheel sat in the pocket behind flashy fractions of :25.4 and :53.2 before being flushed out and taken to the front ahead of the three-quarter pole in 1:21.1.

The Ontario Sires Stakes divisional leader dug in to win by a half-length over the hard closing 1-2 favorite Drop The Ball (Luc Ouellette). Foxy Lady (Sylvain Filion) finished third.

The homebred daughter of Mach Three-Legislation has a lifetime record of 10-10-1 in 24 starts and boasts career earnings of C$956,034 for Umphrey who owns a piece of the bay with Mac Nichol.

Monkey On My Wheel paid $12.90 to win.

“I was worried about my pocket trip at the half, in :53.2,” said driver Jody Jamieson, “and I told Trav on the way back that we might have been a little too close to the pace. When I did move her out of the hole, it was more of an instinct thing, rather than knowing what I was doing, because the mare felt great.

“When I popped out and she dug in I thought ‘well it was the right move, and now we just have to hold off the rest.’

“She’s just an awesome mare, she’s been tough all year, she got beat a couple starts ago, no fault of her own, probably more of the driver and I think that we redeemed ourselves tonight. She’s just an amazing filly. She keeps on rocking. I thought she was great last week, I just didn’t think she could beat Drop The Ball, depending on the trip that she got and what I got and I got the better trip.”

“It’s a very special win,” said co-owner Mac Nichol, “especially with an Ontario-bred taking on all the tough fillies in all of North America. I’m on top of the world right now, that’s for sure. It’s awesome. Coming into the race I thought she was second best because of the way Drop The Ball raced and took the track record. I must have watched that replay about 10 times and I thought it looked like she had a lot left. I figured she was going to be awful tough to beat. But that’s horse racing.

“Halfway down the stretch I figured we had it because she likes to dig in at the end. I saw Drop The Ball struggling a little bit and I figured we were going to beat her.”