There was no shortage of talent Saturday evening at Mohawk Racetrack as the Campbellville hosted a pair of OSS Gold Series divisions for three-year-old pacing fillies.
L A Delight hauled home the hardware in the first $105,000 OSS Gold Series division for the team of driver Randy Waples and trainer Bob McIntosh. The homebred got away third from the Post 1, but Waples had her on the move shortly after Good Will Hanover posted the opening quarter of :27. L A Delight accelerated to the top and cruised through middle panels of :55.3 and 1:23.3. She stormed home in :27.4 to win by 3-1/2 lengths in 1:51.2 over the dead-heating tandem of Party In Rome and Good Will Hanover.
“She’s rounding into mid-season form. We couldn’t be happier with her at this point,” said trainer Bob McIntosh. “She makes us all look good.”
Sent off as the 1-2 favourite, the daughter of Bettors Delight-West Of L A is now 7-for-7 in OSS events. She improved her 2016 record 3-1-1 from six trips to the track for the partnership of Robert McIntosh Stables Inc, C S X Stables and Al McIntosh Holdings Inc. The 14-time winner has banked more than $890,000 to date.
Chris Christoforou picked up a live catch-drive on Lay Lady Lay, who pulled off a 7-1 upset in her $105,000 OSS Gold Series division. The daughter of Up The Credit-Lady D M got away fourth from Post 8 while Bourbon Seelster and Windsun Glory tussled to the quarter in :27.1. Lay Lady Lay was on the move in the backstretch, and she eventually worked her to the top before posting middle fractions of :55.3 and 1:23.4. She dug in for a :28.1 closing quarter while posting the win by 1-1/4 lengths in 1:52 over race favourite Cracklin Rosie. Windsun Glory rounded out the Triactor ticket.
“He drove her twice last year, he’s never been beat with her now, actually, so he knows the filly,” said trainer Chris Matthews of Christoforou’s race strategy. “She’s a little bit easier to drive this year than she was last year, so yeah, he was full of confidence that’s for sure. We always knew she had potential, we had a couple setbacks, but we knew she’d be better at three, she was so big and growthy. She hasn’t had a lot of luck, but we always thought she’d be pretty competitive with this group of fillies. She can be a handful. She’s just so big, she doesn’t even know what she’s doing, she doesn’t care.
“When we bought her I started getting phone calls that everybody wanted a piece of her,” added Matthews. “The one posse is myself and two of my friends I grew up with (Jeff Bryan and Desmond Scott). My group of friends I grew up with they used to call us the Orangeville posse, so we went with that, and then two of my partners on the horse are Steve Bastead and Steve Byers, so that’s two Steve’s, and the three brothers are Gordie, Gary and Glen Lyon, so that formed the three brothers. They all wanted in so we split her up between everybody, just to keep everybody happy, and they are. Everyone is enjoying it and having some fun.”
The victory was her third of the season and the sixth of her career. The $52,500 payday was her biggest haul to date and it bumped her overall bankroll to $179,529.
(Standardbred Canada)
