DUNDAS, ON — Flamboro Downs fans got an eyeful of Ontario Sires Stakes talent on Saturday as three-year-old pacing filly Bold Bidder captured her first Gold Final and sophomore trotting colt Yorktown Gunner matched the track and Ontario Sires Stakes record with his 1:56.1 Gold Elimination win.
In the $130,000 Gold Final, Bold Bidder and driver Luc Ouellette sprinted to the front from Post 3 and remained invincible through fractions of :26.4, :56.1 and 1:24.4. Although Don’t You Smile pressured Bold Bidder through the latter stages of the race and Southwind Madonna took up the cause in the stretch, the pacesetter dug in to record a 1:53.2 triumph, just one-fifth of a second off the track and OSS record.
Southwind Madonna earned second-place honours, finishing three-quarters of a length behind the winner, and Don’t You Smile was another length back in third.
The win was the third this season for Bold Bidder, who has been on a roll since winning her Canadian Breeders Championship Elimination at Mohawk Racetrack on July 21. Third in the track record setting final one week later, the Grinfromeartoear daughter captured her Gold Elimination last weekend with a come from behind 1:55 score.
John Pentland trains Bold Bidder for Karen Carroll of Shedden, who purchased the filly as a yearling for $16,000. The half-sister to four $100,000-plus winners boosted her lifetime earnings to $218,269 with Saturday’s Gold Final win.
Before the three-year-old pacing fillies brought Flamboro fans to their feet in Race 7, two divisions of trotting colts had proven equally impressive.
Heavy favourite Majestic Son captured the first Gold Elimination with an effortless 1:57.2 front end victory over freshman rival Was It A Dream and reigning Gold Final champion Colonel Talbot. Trevor Ritchie drove Majestic Son to his third straight win, and sixth of the season, for trainer Mark Steacy and the Majestic Son Stable of Lansdowne.
Majestic Son will start from Post 2 in next Sunday’s $130,000 Gold Final and his connections would love to see him lay claim a Gold Final crown after he failed to qualify for the season opening Final and then made a break in the second title bout of the season.
First time Gold Series starter Indiana Hall led the colts in the second elimination to a 1:57.3 finish, crossing the wire one and three-quarter lengths in front of first time Ontario Sires Stakes starter Investor and series veteran Dr Robert Johns.
With two wins and one second in Grassroots competition this season, Indiana Hall currently sits third in the Grassroots point standings and Saturday’s victory bumped the Striking Sahbra son into a two-way tie for tenth in the Gold Series.
Tony Kerwood engineered the gelding’s fifth win for trainer Robert Don Fellows and owner S S G Stables of North Boston, NY. The colt will make his bid for a Gold Final title from Post 4 next Sunday.
Ontario Sires Stakes fans have had Yorktown Gunner on their radar since the Balanced Image son stepped off a 1:56.2 victory at Woodbine Racetrack way back on May 18, but the colt has struggled through the first two months of the campaign, finishing no better than fourth in stakes company.
However, on Saturday night things finally came together for Yorktown Gunner. Leaving from Post 5 the colt went straight to the front of the seven horse field, hitting the wire in :28. En route to the halfway marker Yorktown Gunner picked up the pace considerably, reeling off a second fraction of :56.3. A 1:25.4 clocking at the three-quarter pole brought Flamboro fans to their feet as Yorktown Gunner sailed unchallenged down the stretch to the 1:56.1 clocking.
The mile matched the track and Ontario Sires Stakes record set in 2002 by Abbey Road C and bettered Yorktown Gunner’s own personal best by one-fifth of a second.
B Cor Rennegade and pocket sitter Chosen Voyageur did their best to keep up, but had to settle for second and third in the record matching mile.
Tom Durand trains and drives Yorktown Gunner for his wife June Durand of Puslinch and breeder Lynn Baker of Shreve, OH. The full-brother to $893,076 winner B Cor Pete has a record of three wins, three second and three thirds in 22 lifetime starts for earnings of $116,304.
Yorktown Gunner will attempt to repeat his impressive Gold Elimination victory from the trailing Post 9 in the Aug. 20 Gold Final, part of the much anticipated Confederation Cup program that will also feature Gold Finals for the two-year-old trotting colts and pacing colts.
The complete line up for next Sunday’s three-year-old trotting colt Gold Final is as follows:
Post 1 Chosen Voyageur
Post 2 Majestic Son
Post 3 Investor
Post 4 Indiana Hall
Post 5 Was It A Dream
Post 6 B Cor Rennegade
Post 7 Colonel Talbot
Post 8 Dr Robert Johns
Post 9 Yorktown Gunner
AE1 Breaking Benjamin
AE2 Upfront Navigator
AE3 Distant Memories
For complete results please go to:
http://www.standardbredcanada.ca/results/data/rflmdsa.html