CAMPBELLVILLE, ON — Somebody To Love picked up her second straight victory and her first sophomore Gold Final trophy with a picture perfect performance at Mohawk Racetrack on Sunday evening.
Starting from Post 4 the three-year-old trotting filly, in rein to Campbellville resident Luc Ouellette, hid from the wind in the middle of the pack as elimination winner Its My Time took the field to a :29.3 first quarter. Heading for the :59.2 half, Ouellette sent Somebody To Love up the outside behind the other elimination winner, Feels Like Magic.
Somebody To Love continued to enjoy the wind break provided by Feels Like Magic as the fillies marched by the 1:29.1 three-quarters, then pulled to the front heading around the last turn and trotted off to a two and one half length victory in 1:58.2. Feels Like Magic earned the second-place share of the $120,000 Gold Final purse, while pacesetter Its My Time settled for third over the tiring surface, rated one second slower than normal.
“She’s a very good little horse. She tries very hard,” said trainer Darren McCall of Somebody To Love. “I wish I had ten like her.”
McCall conditions Somebody To Love for Mentally Stable Inc. of Delray Beach, FL, and the Cambridge resident is confident the Angus Hall miss will improve as the season swings into high gear.
“She’s a little fatty at the moment,” he said with a chuckle. “But she’s starting out the year looking right, and a little bit of racing should trim her up good.”
The filly has only been back in McCall’s barn for a couple of weeks after enjoying a well deserved winter break in the south. At two, the first foal of $529,694 winner Pick Me Up posted a record of three wins and three seconds in 13 starts for earnings of $420,293. Somebody To Love wrapped up her freshman campaign on a high note, finishing second in both the $300,000 Super Final and the $650,000 Breeders Crown Final, but also captured two Gold Eliminations and a late September Gold Final at Mohawk Racetrack.
Next up on the calendar for most of the elite sophomore trotting lasses are the Casual Breeze at Mohawk on May 30 and the Elegantimage Eliminations at the Campbellville oval on June 6. The Elegantimage Final will go postward on June 14 as part of the $1.5 million Pepsi North America Cup program.
Whatever Lolawants and Cambridge resident Mark MacDonald captured the Gold Consolation on Sunday evening with a come from behind effort to best favourite Warrawee June and pacesetter Ms Naughty. Mike Keeling of Cambridge trains Whatever Lolawants for his partners Richard Ferguson of Woodville and Ronald Keeling of Owen Sound. The win was the Incredible Abe daughter’s first of the season, and came off a fourth-place finish in last weekend’s elimination round.
Also entertaining the families on hand for Mohawk’s annual Victoria Day fireworks extravaganza were the three-year-old trotting colts, competing in a pair of $40,000 Gold Eliminations.
Andiron Springs captured the first elimination with an off the pace effort. The Striking Sahbra son and driver Jack Moiseyev of Moffat eased off the gate from Post 4 and made steady progress up the outside through fractions of :28.2, :57.4 and 1:27.2. Heading around the last turn the colt took command of the race and sailed off to a 1:57.1 victory, three and three-quarter lengths ahead of fan favourite Logans Hero and five lengths up on second choice Society Kad.
Moffat resident Frank Colville trains Andiron Springs for John Swart of Oakton, VA. The colt was making his first start since being scratched out of a Gold Final at Mohawk last September. In eight freshman starts Andiron Springs posted four wins, including a pair of Gold Elimination victories, to bankroll $56,622.
Fourth and fifth-place finishers Nureyev and Sergeant York also advanced to the May 26 Gold Final.
B Strike Three delivered a game performance on the front end to claim the other Gold Elimination trophy. The Striking Sahbra son and driver Rick Zeron of Oakville hustled to the front past the :29 opening quarter and then led the field to a :58.2 half and 1:27.3 three-quarters before holding off a hard charging Start Livin to earn the 1:57.4 victory by one-quarter length.
The consistent O U Gus rounded out the top three, while J S Chisum and Hot And Coldplay picked up the fourth and fifth-place spots.
Rousell Mackenzie trains B Strike Three for owner and breeder Ben Robards III of Shepherdsville, KY. The Elora-based horseman conditioned B Strike Three to a record of four wins, three seconds and one third in 11 starts last season for a total of $353,439 in earnings. Although the colt spent a fair amount of time in division champion Windsong Espoir’s shadow, he captured the August Gold Final at Mohawk, one Gold Elimination, a Flamboro Breeders division and his elimination of the William Wellwood Memorial.
The top five finishers from each elimination will return to Mohawk Racetrack on Monday, May 26 for the first Gold Final of their sophomore campaign, and the field for the $120,000 skirmish will be as follows:
Post 1 J S Chisum
Post 2 O U Gus
Post 3 Andiron Springs
Post 4 Logans Hero
Post 5 Hot And Coldplay
Post 6 Start Livin
Post 7 Nureyev
Post 8 Society Kad
Post 9 B Strike Three
Post 10 Sergeant York
For complete results please go to: http://www.standardbredcanada.ca/results/data/rmohssu.html