by Greg Gangle – WEG Media
Toronto, ON — Driver Scott Zeron made the most of his journey to Woodbine Racetrack Thursday evening as he captured a pair of OSS Gold finals. Zeron guided Modern Connection and Miss Paris to victory in their respective divisions.
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Modern Connection captured the OSS Gold final for 3-year-old pacing fillies, one of two Gold final wins for driver Scott Zeron.
The David Menary-trained Modern Connection converted off a pocket trip to track down heavily-favored Monkey On My Wheel in the final strides to capture the C$170,000 OSS Gold final for 3-year-old pacing fillies.
Zeron and Modern Connection blasted to command in the early stages as she front-stepped her way past the opening panel in :27.
Monkey On My Wheel, driven by Jody Jamieson, angled out from third and took over the lead from Modern Connection past the half in a slow :57.
Heading into the final turn, Patsys Luck and driver Mike Saftic was on the outside, first-over, but failed to advance as Monkey On My Wheel passed three-quarters in 1:24.
Down the lane, Monkey On My Wheel was under urging from Jamieson as she began to bear into the middle of the racetrack. That allowed Zeron to show Modern Connection clear racetrack along the inside and that proved to be the winning move as she stopped the timer in 1:52, a half-length ahead of Monkey On My Wheel. Camille (Jason Brewer) came from off the pace to finish third with Village Janus finishing fourth.
“It really couldn’t have worked out any better for me,” Zeron said following the win. “She made it to the lead easy enough and we were able to back off the fractions in the second quarter when Monkey On My Wheel come at me.”
Turning for home, Zeron admits he wasn’t confident he would find the winner’s circle.
“She usually gets a good jump on us (Monkey On My Wheel), so I had to make sure I could stay right with her. Then when Monkey On My Wheel drifted off the rail it made it easier for me. I wasn’t sure I would get there, but when you’re racing for C$170,000, you don’t give up.”
Yousif Yousif and Ameer Najor own the daughter of Modern Art-Cambest Connection. She paid $13.30 for the victory.
Later in the evening, Zeron guided Miss Paris to victory in the C$130,000 OSS Gold final for 2-year-old trotting fillies.
Counter Pointe and Wayne Henry quickly surged to the lead before opening panel in :27.2.
As the freshmen fillies marched towards the half, Circles and Jacques Hebert popped out of the pocket looking to clear to the lead, but Counter Pointe would have no part of that as the pair locked strides past the half in a quick :56.4.
Circles was able to strike command, but that would not last long as Zeron guided Miss Paris to the outside. Miss Paris quickly brushed to the lead and never looked back as she passed three-quarters in 1:26.3 en route to scoring a comfortable 1:56.1 victory. Circles held on for second over Counter Pointe.
“It worked out great,” Zeron said. “I was a little bit worried with post seven, but last week she showed me that she could leave, so I wasn’t too worried about it.”
When Circles cleared to the lead past the half, that’s when Zeron knew to move his charge.
“That’s what I was waiting for,” he said. “I knew they would slow down a bit on the front because they went to the half so quickly. I angled her out and she took off from there, it was perfect timing and she did the rest.”
Fresh off her elimination victory last week, Miss Paris extended her winning streak to four for trainer Richard ‘Nifty’ Norman and owners Melvin Hartman, Herb Liverman and David McDuffee.
The regally-bred daughter of Kadabra-Pizza Dolce paid $3.10 for the win.