Story by Dave Briggs
Photos by New Image Media

Daya posted a 1:49.1 career-best mile and upset eight-time Ontario Sires Stakes (OSS) Gold champ A Clean Deal in the lone $150,000 OSS Gold Leg 4 event for 3-year-old pacing fillies on Saturday (Aug. 15) at Woodbine Mohawk Park.

The mile was one-fifth of a second off equalling the OSS record set by Boadicea in 2019.

Sent off as the 7-2 second choice in the short field of five, Daya (Bob McClure) chased down A Clean Deal (Doug McNair) in the stretch and won by a head over the latter for owner, breeder and trainer Jack Darling of Cambridge, ON.

Daya led the field through the :26.3 opening quarter, but relented to 1-5 favourite A Clean Deal before the :54.4 half. McNair kept A Clean Deal on the lead through the 1:23 three-quarters, but, in the lane Daya sprinted past in deep stretch to record her second Gold victory of the year.

In the stretch, McClure appeared completely calm and confident that Daya was going to win.

“I wasn’t as confident as him,” Darling told Woodbine broadcaster John Rallis. “But when Bobby came out of that hole, he just sat there like a Sunday drive. He looked like he knew what was going to happen.”

Pownal Bay Bobbi (James MacDonald) was two lengths back in third, followed by Lavender Seelster (Todd McCarthy) and Artistic Delight (Phil Hudon).

Daya paid $9.30 to win.

Daya, a daughter of Bulldog Hanover out of Beach Of A Time now has lifetime earnings of $713,500 and $560,914 this year. She is 7-9-1 in 21 career starts and 2-5-0 in nine 2026 outings.

“She’s been good all year, and she raced big last week,” Darling said of Daya’s second-place finish in a $50,000 3-year-old filly open at Woodbine Mohawk Park. “It was a heartbreaker when she got beaten in :48.4. I would have loved to have that mark, but getting :49 tonight sure helps.”

In previous Gold Series action in the division: