by Mark McKelvie, WEG Communications

Toronto, ON — Musical Rhythm continued his win streak with his most impressive victory to date in Monday’s (Feb. 22) $36,500 General Brock Series final at Woodbine Racetrack.

A field of 10 4-year-old trotters met up for the final of the General Brock, but all the focus surrounded Ben Baillargeon trainee Musical Rhythm. The son of Cantab Hall entered the series final on a four-race win streak, while also winning eight of his last nine starts. The public sent the Baillargeon trainee off at odds of 3-5 from post nine.

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Musical Rhythm set a series record of 1:53.4 in the General Brock final.

Driven by Mario Baillargeon, Musical Rhythm sprinted off the wings of the gate searching for the front. Hillsonator, who won a leg one division, also left hard from post two, but the public’s choice had the most trot and grabbed the front to post an opening quarter of :26.4.

Musical Rhythm caught a breather in the second quarter of :30.1, before stepping it up to trot by the three-quarter pole in 1:26.2. At the top of the stretch, Baillargeon let his charge loose and the son of Cantab Hall responded by quickly leaving his rivals far behind. Musical Rhythm stormed home in :27.2 to score an 8-1/2 length blowout victory in a series record time of 1:53.4. Hillsonator finished second, while Five Below grabbed third.

The clocking of 1:53.4 erased the previous series record of 1:54.2 set by E W Fisher in 2011.

Owned by Santo and Nunzio Vena, Claude Hamel and Ben Baillargeon, Musical Rhythm’s series sweeping victory improves him to four-for-four in 2016. He has also now won eight of nine starts since joining the Baillargeon barn in November. Musical Rhythm’s career record now sits at 13 wins from 27 starts, while his career bankroll is at $124,431. A $2 win ticket on the Baillargeon trainee returned $3.20.

In order to be eligible to the General Brock, the 3- and 4-year-old trotters had to be non-winners of C$50,000 lifetime as of Oct. 31, 2015.