CAMPBELLVILLE, ON — Somebody To Love and Its My Time wrapped up their two-year-old season with second and third-place finishes against North America’s best, and the trotting lasses have bounced right back to form in their sophomore debuts, scoring solid victories in Gold Elimination action at Mohawk Racetrack on Sunday evening.
Somebody To Love opened the 2008 Ontario Sires Stakes season with a 1:58.3 score in the first $40,000 Gold Elimination. The Angus Hall daughter, in rein to Campbellville resident Luc Ouellette, eased out of Post 4 into sixth position and allowed her peers to do all the early manoeuvring.
Baums Beauty took the field of seven to the :28.2 opening quarter before handing things off to last year’s Super Final winner Delphic, who carried on to a 1:00.1 half. Heading toward the half, Ouellette and Somebody To Love took aim on the leaders and the fan favourites had opened up a three and one-quarter length lead before they reached the 1:29.3 three-quarters. Delphic closed the margin by a length, but Somebody To Love was an effortless two and three-quarter length victor.
Despite making a break at the top of the stretch, Whatta Hotty claimed the third-place share of the Gold Elimination purse, and Tymal Sophia won the random draw among the fourth-place finishers to land a spot in next Sunday’s $120,000 Gold Final.
Darren McCall trains Somebody To Love for Mentally Stable Inc. of Delray Beach, FL. The first foal from $529,694 winner Pick Me Up, Somebody To Love earned $420,293 in her two-year-old campaign, driven by runner-up finishes in the Breeders Crown Final and Super Final last November. In 13 freshman starts, the filly posted a record of three wins and three seconds.
Ouellette and Somebody To Love will return to Post 4 for next weekend’s Gold Final.
Its My Time made her sophomore debut in the third elimination, sprinting home to a 1:58.4 score for driver Rick Zeron and trainer Jimmy Takter. Starting from the outside Post 8, Zeron fired Its My Time off the gate and was on top by two lengths by the :28.1 quarter. Oakville resident Zeron lifted his foot off the accelerator heading to the :59.3 half and allowed Ouellette and Only Lonely to take control of the front end.
Only Lonely continued to lead the field of trotting distaffers through a 1:28.3 three-quarters, but she could not hold off Its My Time when Zeron picked up the tempo again in the stretch. Its My Time hit the wire two and a half lengths ahead of Only Lonely and a charging Beyond Limits.
Brothers John and Jim Fielding of Toronto, Christina Takter of East Windsor, NJ and Free Money Stable LLC of Bethlehem, PA share ownership of Its My Time, who banked $220,831 last season through one win, four seconds and four thirds in 14 starts. The Angus Hall lass finished third behind Somebody To Love in both the Super Final and Breeders Crown.
Unlike her peers, Feels Like Magic did not participate in the late season events, wrapping up her freshman campaign in September after just five starts. In those five starts the filly chalked up one win and two seconds for earnings of $66,670, and she added $20,000 to that with a win in the second Gold Elimination on Sunday night.
With veteran reinsman Bill O’Donnell in the race bike, Feels Like Magic coasted off the starting gate from Post 7 and had settled into seventh when Duchessofnorthyork led the field to a :28.3 opening quarter. While Duchessofnorthyork and Ouellette continued to do all the work up front, O’Donnell tipped Feels Like Magic to the outside behind eight-time winner Bella Dolce.
The seasoned duo stalked newcomer Duchessofnorthyork through a 1:00.2 half and a 1:30.1 three-quarters and then took aim on the pacesetter as they swung off the last turn. Duchessofnorthyork put up a game fight, but the 27 second last quarters laid down by her opponents left her with third-place in the stretch battle, which saw Feels Like Magic awarded the victory over Bella Dolce by half a length.
Kevin O’Reilly trains the talented daughter of Kadabra for the Feels Like Magic Stable of Acton. After a pair of qualifiers in April, O’Reilly gave Feels Like Magic a pre-season test drive in a non-winners of two contest at Mohawk on May 1, and the filly delivered a solid second-place finish over a track rated one second slower than normal. O’Donnell steered the filly from Post 1 in that skirmish, and the pair will return to the rail for next Sunday’s Gold Final.
The top three finishers, plus fourth-place finisher Tymal Sophia, will battle for $120,000 at Mohawk Racetrack on Sunday, May 18, a night which also features Gold Eliminations for the three-year-old trotting colts and Victoria Day fireworks. Post time for the Campbellville oval’s action-packed program is 6:30 pm.
The complete list of post positions for the first Gold Final of the 2008 season is as follows:
Post 1 Feels Like Magic
Post 2 Tymal Sophia
Post 3 Duchessofnorthyork
Post 4 Somebody To Love
Post 5 Whatta Hotty
Post 6 Beyond Limits
Post 7 Delphic
Post 8 Only Lonely
Post 9 Its My Time
Post 10 Bella Dolce
For complete results please go to: http://www.standardbredcanada.ca/results/data/rmohssu.html