Team McNair showed no mercy to the competition thanks to a four-win performance during Tuesday evening’s 10-race card at Mohawk Racetrack.
A set of O.S.S. Gold Series scores with Action Majesty and The Joy Luck Club in addition to triumphs in overnight events with All It Takes and Shewearsthepants gave the father/son duo plenty of reasons to celebrate.
Doug McNair hustled the Gregg McNair-trained Action Majesty to the lead in her $94,800 O.S.S. Gold Series division, and the three-year-old daughter of Royal Mattjesty-Action Grin didn’t look back.
She streaked through splits of :27, :56.3 and 1:25.1 before powering home in :26.2 to win by two lengths over Aint Three OK. Third prize was earned by Manhattan Play.
Bred and owned by Kenneth Sommer of Sheffield, Ohio, Action Mattjesty improved this year’s record to 4-2-1 from 11 starts with the win. The eight-time winner boosted her overall cash stash to $320,342.
The Joy Luck Club, who went 0-for-10 as a rookie, notched her 13th win of the season thanks to a 1:50.3 triumph in her $95,600 O.S.S. Gold Series division for Team McNair.
The daughter of Camluck-Oh The Joy got away fourth before rushing up to challenge Fade at the mid-way point in :54.1. The Joy Luck Club muscled her way to the top and sprinted the field to the three-quarter pole in 1:21.3. She used a :29 kicker to win by a length over Fade. P L Kahluaa rallied sharply to grab third prize.
Sent off as the 1-2 favourite, The Joy Luck Club improved this season’s boxscore to 13-3-0 from 20 trips to the track for Gregg McNair and partners Mark Horner and R A W Equine Inc. The victory pushed her lifetime earnings over $200,000.
Tuesday’s card also saw trainer Ben Baillargeon manufacture a solid night thanks to a two-win performance with a set of talented trotters.
Musical Rhythm marched to a season’s best clocking of 1:52.2 thanks to his gate-to-wire score in the $34,000 Preferred Trot. Mario Baillargeon hustled him through panels of :27.1, :56.1 and 1:24.3 before using a :27.4 closing quarter to win by a half-length margin over Charmed Life. Major Athens took home third prize.
Baillargeon shares ownership on the five-year-old son of Cantab Hall-Musical Victory with Claude Hamel and Nunzio and Santo Vena. It was the fourth win of the year – and the 25th to date – for the career winner of $589,238.
Baillargeon also got the job done with R First Class, who rallied to an upset win in a $20,000 conditioned event for driver Sylvain Filion.
Tom and Elizabeth Rankin of St. Catherines, Ont. bred and own the three-year-old son of Kadabra-World Class Image.
There were multiple winning tickets in Tuesday’s Jackpot Hi 5 wager, and as a result there will be a monster carryover of $413,411.77 going into Thursday’s card of racing.
Tuesday’s winning combination of 8-6-2-5-4 kicked back a payout of $1,851.70 for a $1 ticket.
(Standardbred Canada)
