Mohawk Racetrack hosted an Ontario Sires Stakes double header at the harness racing meeting on Monday night as the three-year-old trotting colt and two-year-old pacing filly Gold Series competitors wrapped up their regular season over the Campbellville oval.
Last year's two-year-old trotting colt champion Dont Rush had captured one Grassroots and two Gold Series trophies heading into Monday's contest and the Infinitif son captured a fourth with a 1:54.4 effort that trainer Dustin Jones felt was his best of the campaign.
"That was his best race of the year. He was first over off a slow half and trotted his last quarter in :27.4," said Jones. "I am real happy with his effort."
From Post 3 Dont Rush and driver Chris Christoforou of Campbellville got away fifth and the fan favourites started to advance on pacesetter Hemi Seelster heading for the :58 half.
Hemi Seelster continued to lead the field at the 1:26.3 three-quarters, with Dont Rush closing the gap on the outside, and when the pair straightened out for home they were separated by a neck.
Hemi Seelster put up a fierce battle, but Dont Rush was able to find an extra gear, reaching the wire one-quarter length ahead of his rival.
Caulfield finished three and three-quarter lengths behind the battling leaders in third.
"He trotted his last half in :55 and change, " noted Waterdown, ON resident Jones, who shares ownership of Dont Rush with Greg Judson of Athens, ON.
In 11 starts this season Dont Rush has posted four wins and two thirds for earnings of $161,116.
Monday's win bumped him to the top of the division standings with 155 points.
Dont Rush
Rubber Duck finished the regular season the same way he started, capturing a Gold Series trophy with a first over effort.
From Post 2, driver Jack Moiseyev settled Rubber Duck in fourth as Olympic Son rolled out to a :28 opening quarter.
When fan favourite Luck O The Irish took over heading toward the :57 half Moiseyev sent Rubber Duck up the outside and the pair were just one-half length behind the pacesetter at the 1:25.4 three-quarters.
Powering off the final turn Rubber Duck accelerated away to a four and one-quarter length victory in 1:54.4.
Winning Wizard closed hard to grab second, leaving Luck O The Irish to settle for third.
All three colts finished in the top 10 and will advance to the Oct. 10 Super Final at Woodbine Racetrack.
Moffat, ON resident Moiseyev engineered Rubber Duck's third win of the season for trainer Julie Walker of Carlisle, ON and owners Blair and Erna Corbeil of Beaumont, AB.
The Muscle Mass son also has one second, four thirds and earnings of $139,724 in 13 sophomore starts.
Rubber Duck
The other three-year-old trotting colt Gold division saw Setanta go gate-to-wire in 1:54.4 for his first-ever Ontario Sires Stakes victory.
Milton, ON resident Steve Condren guided the Kadabra son to the one-half length victory over favourite Muscle Up The Goal and Stormont Wizard on behalf of trainer Alan Richardson of Kirkfield, ON and his partner Jeffery Ruch of Innisfil, ON.
The win boosted Setanta from thirteenth to ninth in the division standings, earning him one of 10 spots in the $250,000 Super Final on Oct. 10.
Setanta
The two-year-old pacing filly divisions saw a pair of sharp front end performances laid down by division star L A Delight and relative newcomer Good Will Hanover.
Starting from Post 6 in the first $105,000 division, L A Delight and driver Randy Waples of Milton took command of the race before the :56.4 half and never faced a challenge, cruising home one and one-half length winners in 1:53.3.
Free Show was content to trail along behind L A Delight into second and Twin B Thong completed the top three.
The victory was L A Delight's tenth straight, a win streak which started in a Grassroots division at Mohawk on July 9 and has extended through two Gold Legs, a leg and the final of the Whenuwishuponastar Series, divisions of the Eternal Camnation and Champlain Stakes, and the elimination and final of the Shes A Great Lady Stake.
The Bettors Delight daughter is trained by Hall of Fame horseman Bob McIntosh of Windsor, ON, who also bred and owns the winner of $579,335 in partnership with C S X Stables of Liberty Center, OH and Al McIntosh Holdings Inc. of Leamington, ON.
L A Delight
In the second freshman pacing filly division Good Will Hanover and driver Paul MacDonell of Guelph, ON fired straight to the front from Post 4 and reeled off fractions of :27, :56.2 and 1:24.4 on their way to a three and one-quarter length victory in 1:52.3.
Heavenly Hill and Maniana paced into second and third.
"The owners are all up here. It's the first time they came up, so they're very happy," said Dr. Ian Moore, who conditions Good Will Hanover for GLB Stable of Lakeview, NS.
"We're very pleased and we're looking forward to the Super Finals," added the Guelph resident. "She's the only one we have in any of the Finals this year."
The win was the first in Gold Series action for Good Will Hanover, who captured a Grassroots division at Mohawk on Aug.24 and finished second in her Gold Series debut at Grand River Raceway on Sept. 7.
In her other three starts, the Big Jim daughter posted a pair of overnight victories at Mohawk and finished second in the Champlain division captured by L A Delight.
The feisty filly moved from fifteenth to eighth in the division standings with the win, and Moore is hoping she can deliver a strong effort in the Super Final in spite of the additional challenges she will face at Woodbine.
"Those planes are pretty loud and we have to keep her plugged up so she hears nothing, so hopefully that won't become an issue,' said the trainer.
"And I can time it so that I get here (Mohawk) say 25 minutes before we need to go out and just throw the harness on and go out, so she doesn't have time to get worked up.
Well you can't do that at Woodbine, you've got to be there a little earlier because of the traffic obviously, so I don't know, we'll do what we can do and hopefully she won't tear herself apart.
"She's got lots of energy and hopefully she'll conserve it for the race," he added.
Good Will Hanover
On Tuesday evening the two-year-old trotting colts and three-year-old trotting fillies will have their last opportunity to qualify for Super Final night.
The trotters are featured in Races 1, 2, 3, 5, and 7 on the Mohawk Racetrack program, which gets under way at 7:25 pm.
Ontario Horse Racing