MILTON, Ontario – The two William Wellwood Memorial elimination races, each with a purse of $30,000, at Woodbine Mohawk Park on Saturday night (August 17) produced low prices, while the two Peaceful Way elimination races, each with a purse of $30,000, ended in surprise.
The clear favorite Tactical Dynasty took a victory in the first William Wellwood Memorial elimination race with a time of 1:53.4.
“When I asked him in the middle of the last corner and nobody came, he stepped up a gear,” said winning driver Yannick Gingras after the race.
Gingras sent Tactical Dynasty out from post 7 to finish third with a first quarter time of :29, but soon lifted the Tactical Landing colt off the posts and into the lead. He took the lead before a half of :57.3 and left the opposition behind, racing through three-quarter distance in 1:25.4 and strolling under the bars a comfortable winner by five lengths. Extended Session lost his stride and finished second, which disqualified him and put him in fifth place, allowing him to still advance to the final. Lookatmegoamigo, Maryland and Warrior all moved up one place to finish second, third and fourth respectively.
“Once he gets into that gait, he’s pretty solid,” Gingras also said. “He’s done all the breakers and all that stuff. I’ve always really liked him. He’s got that beautiful gait, he’s fast. I think we’ve got a beautiful stallion on our hands.”
Ron Burke trains Tactical Dynasty for his Burke Racing Stable LLC, Phillip Collura, Larry Karr, J. and T. Silva and Purnel and Libby. He won his second race in five starts, now has $83,973 in the bank and paid $3.50 to win.
Emoticon Legacy remained unbeaten in only her second start on the track when she caught the Nos. 1 and 5 favorite Nordic Catcher S in the final meters of a 1:56 mile to win the second Wellwood Elimination.
Rider James MacDonald pushed Emoticon Legacy forward to take third as Manforce tried to steal the race from him at 13-1. With opening times of :28.3 and :59.1, Manforce soon came under pressure as Nordic Catcher S burst out of his pocket ride to take the lead first. Nordic Catcher S accelerated to the lead after three quarters in 1:28.2 but stalled as he passed Manforce on the track. MacDonald, meanwhile, found space by turning out of the turn to follow Nordic Catcher S’s move to the outside, then deflected his charge off the helmet on the track to get ever closer to the lead. In the final meters, Emoticon Legacy successfully caught Nordic Catcher S and won by a head length. Manforce held on to third as Getastarfromthesky and Southwind Caspian secured the remaining spots for the final.
“He looks like a very special stallion, like he will develop into anything Emoticon (Hanover) throws at him,” said winning rider James MacDonald of Emoticon Legacy, a Walner mare out of champion mare Emoticon Hanover. “She’s a super broodmare, she was a super racehorse and this horse looks like he will develop into a nice horse too.”
Luc Blais trains Emoticon Legacy for owner and breeder Determination. She earned $25,000 with her two wins and paid $8.70 for the win.
Royal Mission won the first Peaceful Way elimination with a pocket pounce at odds of 8:1.
“We got some good sections. I didn’t know if we would overtake her in the sprint, but she did it,” said winning rider Trevor Henry after the race. “She showed she could get going, so I thought I’d go with her and let Jody go. That’s how it worked out.”
Royal Mission started from post 7 and secured a trail ride behind 8-5 runner-up Monalishi, who posted tepid times of :29.1, :58.2 and 1:27.1 before straining for the final sprint. Despite the easy sections, Monalishi could not hold off the late charge of Royal Mission, who won by 1-1/2 lengths in a 1:54.3 mile. R Charm, favorite Lasting Dream and Highlandstarburst secured the remaining spots in the final.
Marcus Melander trains Royal Mission, a daughter of Chapter Seven and full sister to Canadian Trotting Classic champions Ahundreddollarbill and Slay. Jeff Snyder owns the mare, who has now won two of five starts and earned $199,966. She paid $19.10 for the win.
Thanks to Jody Jamieson’s confident handling of a bumpy home stretch from R. Dutchess, she was able to pick herself up and land the decisive blow with a 13-1 win over the 3-5 favorite Champagne Problems in the second elimination round of Peaceful Way.
“I put too much pressure on her and she tried to give it her all. She overtook me and then continued to trot hard,” said winning rider Jody Jamieson after the race.
R Dutchess began her pursuit with a :57.4 halfway point where Champagne Problems circled out of the pocket and took the lead on the final turn. Champagne Problems covered three quarters of the way with a big lead in 1:25.3 but R Dutchess continued her charge and closed to within one of the leaders on the way home. The pair were neck and neck on the track – Champagne Problems staying true to the cones and R Dutchess staying resilient to smooth out her bumpy strides until the final furlong. R Dutchess then battled her way to the front and took a narrow win over Champagne Problems in a 1:53.1 mile with Margareta Hanover a further six lengths behind in third. Medley Seelster and Entertain Me completed the top five.
“She’s just a little dumb, inexperienced and has too much talent for her own good right now,” said coach John Butenschoen. “She’s going to try to overwhelm herself. She’s still developing, but she’s making progress in the right direction.”
R Dutchess, a daughter of Father Patrick out of 2018 Peaceful Way winner The Ice Dutchess, won her second race in four starts and has now earned $26,016. She is leased from M&L of Delaware LLC and received $29.70 for the win.
Each of the elimination winners of Saturday’s stakes races received a starting position between 2nd and 6th for their respective finals, which will be held next Saturday (August 24) at Woodbine Mohawk Park.
$390,000 Peaceful Path
1 CHAMPAGNE PROBLEMS
2 R DUTCH PEOPLE
3 ROYAL MISSION
4 R CHARM
5 HIGHLANDSTARBURST
6 MEDLEY SEELSTER
7 LASTING DREAM
8 MONALISHI
9 MARGARETA HANOVER
10 ENTERTAIN ME
575,000 USD William Wellwood Memorial
1 EXTENDED SESSION
twoEMOTICON LEGACY
3 MANFORCE
4 TACTICAL DYNASTY
5 SOUTH WIND CASPIAN
6 NORDIC CATCHER S
7 WARRIORS
8 GET A STAR FROM THE SKY
9 Maryland
10LOOK AT I AM AMAMIGO
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RAY COTOLO FOR WOODBINE COMMUNICATIONS
