Willys Home Run made her fourth appearance in the Ontario Sires Stakes Gold for freshman trotting fillies on Monday (Sept. 4) at Woodbine Mohawk Park and collected her fourth win of the series, pocketing the winner’s share of the $104,000 purse.
After taking two second place finishes in the $30,000 elimination and $425,000 final of the Peaceful Way in mid-August, Willys Home Run picked up where she left off in the OSS Gold with James MacDonald holding the lines for Kyle Fellows and the two-year-old Archangel-Rite Outa The Park filly did not let post ten faze her.
“When I saw the draw originally, I said that sucks,” said MacDonald. “But I know what this filly is capable of, and it was kind of a good situation going in. I raced her off the pace in the Peaceful Way and she had been racing so good, so I knew it wasn’t like she’d gone down the road four starts in a row and she had to do it again.”
MacDonald and Willys Home Run chased the wings of the car as they pulled away and the pair darted diagonally across the track to take the lead. Once she had control, Willys Home Run posted fractions in :27.4, :57.4, and 1:26.4, opening up with every stride. Around the final turn, the filly sealed her fate and continued on to win by six lengths in 1:55.1. Valuable Miss (Trevor Henry) took second and West River Ivory (Doug McNair) was third.
“In April or May I had like 14 and I knew she was better than everything else,” said Fellows. “You trained her with the pacers and she’s better than them. She was just special.”
Dr. Sara Gatchell, Jake Higgs, Reg Higgs, and Yolanda Fellows co-own the filly as she moved her career tally to 4-3-0 in seven starts with $312,425. A career mark for Willys Home Run, she paid $2.40 to win as the bettors’ choice.
Dontmesswithmama proved she’s not one to be messed with in her nine-horse field going for $103,100 as she rallied from the back of the pack to upset at 20-1 odds.
Bob McClure and the Blake Macintosh trainee got away seventh and sat 11 lengths off of the leading Zippy Zipporah (Jody Jamieson) through the :28.1 opening panel. The Muscle Mass-Special Interest filly continued in seventh as the field hit the half in :58.1 and moved into sixth along the pylons at the three-quarters in 1:27. Dontmesswithmama was still only in fifth around the final turn and used the lengthy stretch to her advantage. Sprinting down the lane, Dontmesswithmama chipped away at the distance standing between herself and victory. Favoured Rhythm Of Life (MacDonald) posted a hefty challenge, but Dontmesswithmama prevailed at the wire to win by a head in 1:56.1. Love Those Legs (Chris Christoforou) finished third.
“Every time a lane opened up for her, she just kept diving forward,” said McClure. “So, it was a good time for Blake to have her good, and she is rounding into form at the right time of year.”
“The other day when I trained her, she didn’t want to pass the last one, so I wasn’t too happy about it,” said MacIntosh. “But she seemed to pass everything tonight.”
Owned by MacIntosh and Van Camp Trotting Corp, Dontmesswithmama earned her first win from five starts and moved her career sum to $69,761.
(Standardbred Canada)
