CAMPBELLVILLE, ON — Putasmileon shaved a full second off his personal best capturing the $130,000 Gold Final for two-year-old pacing colts at Mohawk Racetrack on Monday evening.

Leaving from Post 5 Putasmileon and driver Randy Waples watched the early movement from third and then fired to the front heading to the :56.2 half. Going by the three-quarter pole the Grinfromeartoear son fought off a challenge from stablemate Apache Limo and then powered down the stretch to score the 1:53.4 victory. Freedom Hanover closed well to earn the second-place finisher’s share and early leader Im A Lucky Cam stayed game for third.

“He really raced impressively tonight. He had every opportunity to get beat,” said Waples from the winner’s enclosure. “The fractions were a little bit more than I wanted them to be. I thought I was going to get a really cheap half, but I had to pace around to the front there and he really raced well; he gutted it out.

“He is a very versatile colt; he can do it both ways,” added the reinsman. “Last week he hadn’t raced in a while and it was a dirty, sloppy night. He had to be one or two to get into the final and it was a gamble; I could have just as easily got locked-in, but we got a little lucky. He didn’t get hurt and he was really fresh tonight.”

Overwhelming favourite Grin Tin Tin was never a factor as he brought his four-race win streak to a halt with a break behind the gate and again at the three-quarters. As a result second choice Putasmileon returned a whopping $19.70 to win and $7.40 to place and Freedom Hanover paid $11.60 to place. There was no show wagering permitted on the race, but those who picked a 5 – 6 exactor earned $109.40 and a 5 – 6 – 8 triactor was worth a cool $1,489.40.

Bill Robinson trains Putsamileon for the Fred Monteleone Stable LLC of Pompano Beach, FL. Through 10 starts this season the colt has posted an impressive record of six wins, two thirds and earnings of $205,097. Monday’s victory was his second Gold Final win and firmly lodged him atop the division standings with 255 points.

Warming up the crowd for the exciting two-year-old pacing colts were two divisions of three-year-old trotting colts competing in Gold Elimination action. Maintaining his perfect Gold Elimination record and establishing himself as the favourite for next week’s Gold Final was JM Vangogh, who captured the first elimination with a 1:56.1 victory on the front end.

Leaving from Post 4 trainer-driver Ron Waples opted to fire the colt to the front this week and the duo rolled through fractions of :27.4, :58 and 1:26.4 en route to the quarter length victory over Snoops Bytes and favourite Kingdom.

“He had post position four and it was a short field and I just thought I’d change things a little bit,” explained Waples after the race. “There didn’t look like there were any strong leavers except for Ricky’s colt on the inside. He wasn’t up to the gate and it didn’t look like he [Zeron] was going to bust him out of there, so I just thought I’d change things.

“He has been wanting to leave a little bit and I haven’t been leaving with him. Tonight he felt really good and like I said no one else was leaving out of there, so I let him roll.”

Paul Chambers of Harrington, DE and John Mello of Georgetown, MA share ownership on the Earl son, who has four Gold Elimination and two Gold Final wins to his credit this season.

The second trotting colt elimination went to favourites Armbro Approach and Mike Saftic, who also used front-end tactics to score the 1:56.3 victory over Meadowview Sunny and D Double U. Geoff Maltby trains the Mr Lavec son for the Jeff Miller Stable of Haviland, OH and noted that the colt has been making steady progress toward the top of the division all season.

“He is actually is a bit of an above-average size, and he is a really muscular horse, and he is just coming into his own. His back end has got stronger and I think overall he just had to get stronger,” said the trainer. “He has actually jumped up a level better than I ever thought he would be. He is getting better and better each week.”

The top five colts from each elimination will return to Mohawk Racetrack next Monday, Oct. 6 for the second last $130,000 Gold Final of their careers, while the talented two-year-old pacing colts make their next start at Windsor Raceway on Oct. 26.