Woodbine Mohawk Park hosted the finale of the 2023 Ontario Sires Stakes (OSS) program on Saturday, Oct. 14, featuring four $300,000 Super Finals for the provincial program’s top sophomores in their local swan songs.
Upset In The Sophomore Filly Trot? ‘Believe’ It!
A Gold Series victory had eluded Believe U Me in four previous starts, but the sophomore trotter brought her best effort Saturday at Woodbine Mohawk Park. With Louis-Philippe Roy in the bike, the Muscle Mass-I Believe filly overcame the outside post to score a 1:54.3 upset in the $300,000 OSS Super Final and giving trainer David Menary his second Super Final victory in two nights after winning with Pass Line on Friday.
The Wiesman Farms-bred three-year-old spent August and September in Lexington competing in the Kentucky Commonwealth series, collecting two wins and finishing third in the $100,000 final for trainer Ron Burke.
Returning to Gold Series action on October 2, Believe U Me raced fifth for Roy, who also piloted the trotter as a two-year-old. She was sent to Menary to prepare for the Super Final and made her first start for the conditioner Saturday night.
“I was happy with the week she had, I really touted her to Louis. Ikes Dream raced earlier in the night and she trained with him on Saturday and Tuesday and went right on by him,” said Menary. “She’s kind of a tricky mare to drive but we had a bad post and I was very confident in letting him go forward….Louis did a great job, I didn’t think she could be first up that way but everything fell into place tonight and I’m happy to be standing here.”
A $115,000 Lexington purchase for William Donovan, Believe U Me entered the contest ranked ninth in points with series earnings of just under $35,000.
Righteous Resolve and Baroness Hill, by comparison, led the division and were the top selections in the final.
Starting from the rail, heavy favourite Righteous Resolve and James MacDonald took control early with Baroness Hill sitting in the pocket seat for Doug McNair.
Believe U Me sat off the early pace in sixth after starting from post nine but after a :26 opening panel, Roy moved first up on the backstretch.
Advancing to second racing through the turn, Believe U Me and Roy assumed the lead racing out of the turn as Righteous Resolve began to retreat.
“She doesn’t really like the front and there was one time she raced in Saratoga and she wanted to run out of the race track when you put her on the front, so even going into the last turn she was feeling pretty good but I had mixed feelings, I didn’t want to clear her too early,” Roy explained. “I saw [Righteous Resolve] was kind of tired there and I was scared if I cleared her too early how mine would react, but at some point she was feeling so good that she just went by by herself and I was just making sure I was keeping her attention and she was just feeling really good.”
The duo were able to get the jump on the field, which was the key to victory. Once McNair found room along the inside, Baroness Hill closed with a late kick but came up a length and a half short at the wire. Stonebridge Bravo trotted home third. Righteous Resolve faded to eighth.
Winning for the fifth time this season, Believe U Me more than doubled her seasonal bankroll, which now stands at $252,228.
She rewarded her backers handsomely, paying $32.60 to win.
One Last Surge by One Last Wish
The Ontario Sires Stakes Super Final for three-year-old pacing fillies wrote its own headline when a sentimental favourite dug deep for victory.
One Last Wish walked quietly out of the Woodbine Mohawk Park paddock for the post parade, in line to regular driver Paul MacDonell. As she headed out, caretaker Sara Czerlau gave the homebred Bettors Delight–Arts Diva daughter a lucky pat on the nose.
The field of 10 was scratched down to nine before the addition of also-eligible Talk Curdy To Me, who moved into post nine to replace Lyons Bettorday, whose trainer faced a suspension. Ten fillies ultimately went behind the gate to decide the 2023 divisional Gold Series title.
One Last Wish left from post four, chasing the quick-leaving Ima Doll. Momentary Control sat third as MacDonell’s filly made front on the first turn, settling smoothly ahead of Ima Doll before the :26.4 opening quarter.
As if scripted, Momentary Control and driver Tyler Jones temporarily gained the lead in a first-over move to the :55 flat half.
First-over 18-1 longshot Talk Curdy To Me made it up to her sulky wheel at three-quarters, reached in 1:23.3.
Control shifted back to One Last Wish during the stretch drive.
She escaped the pocket to take down Momentary Control, making up five open lengths in a brave surge to the finish.
Divisional leader in the OSS Gold Series standings, with three previous 2023 Gold Series victories, One Last Wish was a winning 6-1 overlay in the $300,000 Super Final. The 1:51.4 clocking wasn’t her fastest win, but it clearly meant the most to her tearful trainer.
One Last Wish (p, 3, 1:50.1s; $297,802) is owned by breeders Brian Legge of Toronto, Ont. and Dr. David Legge of Ajax, Ont., and trained throughout her career by Bowmanville, Ont. horseman Ken Sucee.
She is the last of her dam’s five offspring, and the only Bettors Delight. Arts Diva (p, 4, 1:49.3s; $691,175) has produced all sub-1:55 winners, including half-brother Maroma Beach (p, 4, 1:50.0f; $384,951).
“It’s genuinely full circle,” said Sucee. “We had the mother [Arts Diva] so many years ago, and the Legges as owners for so long now, and to have the last one of the mare, that’s why they named her One Last Wish. To do this, and what she’s done this year, is just beyond words for me. I’ve just been blessed, you know, get up in the morning and love to see her, that’s all. They don’t come along very often so I’m going to cherish this and cherish her.”
MacDonell told interviewer John Rallis that he was impressed by One Last Wish’s OSS evolution: “She really came along. Last year she was a good Grassrooter. This year, I could tell when she qualified that she was going to be able to step it up, and I said to Kenny [Sucee], ‘She probably will be a Gold filly this year.’ I didn’t think she’d be this good, but she definitely stepped it up.”
Although Sucee called her “a fighter” on the track, the gentle Gold Series champion filly received hugs, kisses, and plenty of congratulatory pats in the winners’ circle, surrounded by her beaming connections.
One Last Wish paid $14.30 to win.
Ghostly Casper Delivers Big Win at Last in Super Final
In a division with no dominating horse this season, Ghostly Casper, driven by Tyler Borth, was much the best winning the $300,000 three-year-old colt and gelding trot Super Final.
The 1:53 winning mile was a personal best for the Resolve-Cool Creek Breeze colt.
Co-owner Santo Vena said, “We’ve had nothing but bad luck with him. He should have won a lot more races. In the Super Final last year he got interfered with and in the Hambletonian he got interfered, with so this is really nice.”
Ghostly Casper’s mild upset came about well after four foes left the gate with heat. Hasty Bid, Osceola, Tuscan Prince, and Musical Ride negotiated a three-deep start resulting in Tuscan Prince taking the lead in a :26.4 first quarter and The Hazelton making a break to be eliminated while trying to keep up.
Tuscan Prince was challenged when Osceola took to the outside but did not clear. That duel kept the top three on their toes through a :55 half.
Ghostly Casper saved ground as the field clocked three-quarters in 1:23.4. Then Borth fired his colt and was full of trot while Osceola gave in to Tuscan Prince and Musical Ride shook loose.
Tyler said when he saw what was developing going into the final turn, “I knew the race was setting up really good.”
Ghostly Casper roared down the stretch and opened up to secure the win over Tuscan Prince and a fancy closing 92-1 Musical Ride.
He paid $12.30 to win.
Ben Baillargeon trains Ghostly Casper, who won his fourth race in 16 starts this season and spiked his earnings to $619,179. Baillargeon, Teresa Davidson, Santo and Nunzio Vena of Ontario own the colt. Diane Ingham and Harry Rutherford bred the colt.
Tyler, who picked up the drive on Ghostly Casper three starts back, said, “He’s a pleasure to drive and I can’t say enough good things about him. He does anything that you want.”
It was the richest race Tyler Borth won so far in his driving career and first Super Final score. “It’s awesome,” he said. “If you’d have asked me this time last year if I’d be standing here with you right now I would have told you that you were crazy.”
In the first of Tyler’s three drives on the colt he took off early with the colt leaving from the nine hole but did not show early speed in this race.
He said taking back this time was not intentional. “I was planning on getting him out of there a little bit but he just didn’t get off the gate. He felt like he didn’t quite have his feet under him so I wasn’t happy where I was during the first turn.”
Santo said, “Tyler’s been driving him amazing. He suits the horse perfect.”
Moment Is Here Arrives in OSS Super Final
Homebred Moment Is Here rebounded from a sixth-place effort his last time out to capture the $300,000 Ontario Sires Stakes Super Final for sophomore pacing colts.
Steered by Tim Tetrick, the gelded son of All Bets Off-Breathtacular outkicked favoured Stockade Seelster and held off the late charge of Write Me A Rose to secure the championship for his connections in a time of 1:50.2.
In five previous Gold Series attempts, Moment Is Here failed to reach the winner’s circle, but recorded three runner-up performances.
Bred and trained by Bob McIntosh, the sophomore raced second in the Simcoe before shipping to Delaware, Ohio for the Little Brown Jug. There, Tetrick guided him to an elimination win and a fourth-place finish in the final.
“I really love the horse,” stated Tetrick. “Bob called me there going into the Jug and said he had a horse that he thought would be good on the half and he was totally right.”
He returned to the bike Saturday, making the start a winning one in the Glamour Boy division.
Drawing the rail in the night’s ninth race, Tetrick hustled Moment Is Here to the early lead before being shuffled by Jody Jamieson and Stockade Seelster, who moved from third to brush to the top through a :55.2 opening half.
Sent off at 6-1 with Moment Is Here, Hall of Famer Tetrick was content to sit until the stretch. There, he asked Moment Is Here and the gelding seized the moment, pacing home in 27 seconds to win by a length.
Stockade Seelster battled gamely along the inside before being nosed out by Write Me A Rose at the wire.
“I got right where I wanted to be off the rail and I only had to go 27 to get that spot, and when Jody came my horse settled really good and tracked him really well, and when it was time to go we pulled and the horse did the rest, I didn’t fall off.” Tetrick said.
The victory is the fifth in 19 seasonal starts for Moment Is Here. He now has $480,859 in seasonal earnings, with $686,721 on his card lifetime. The sophomore is owned by McIntosh Stables Inc., Al McIntosh Holdings Inc., Frank Baldachino, and Mardon Stables.
Moment Is Here paid $14.00 for the win.
Marv Chantler, part of the Mardon Stables, said after the win that earplugs were added and the change suited the pacer well.
“Tim wanted to light him up in the Jug so we took the earplugs out and we raced him without earplugs last week and I know James (MacDonald) behind the gate, he was pretty raunchy and tonight he had the earplugs in and he relaxed and he did it coming home,” he said.
Chantler also shared that the gelding would like go up for auction next week.
“Well, I kind of liked what I saw El Ray sell for yesterday, $500,000 and he’s raced against El Ray so… I mean I’ve been racing for 56 years and I’m not stupid, I don’t expect we’re going to get a half a million dollars but he’s worth something to somebody,” explained Chantler.
Live coverage from COSA TV is available here:
(Standardbred Canada with files from OSS)
