TORONTO, ON — For the second straight night, the favourites brought their �A’ game to Ontario Sires Stakes action at Woodbine Racetrack.
Starting with the two-year-old trotting colts in Friday’s first race, fan favourites delivered impressive efforts in three Gold Series Eliminations, setting the stage for a pair of exciting Gold Finals next week.
William Wellwood Memorial champ The Game Plan returned to action in the first trotting colt elimination and cruised around the Woodbine oval to a three and three-quarter length victory in 1:55.4. Majestic Image sat on The Game Plan’s heels for much of the mile and followed him across the line in second, while Heres The Magic closed hard to be third, seven lengths behind the winner. Fourth and fifth-place finishers Warrawee Nimby and Reckon Im Ready also advanced to next Friday’s $130,000 Gold Final.
Jack Moiseyev engineered The Game Plan’s seventh victory for trainer John Kopas of Milton and his partners LLK Stable and Anthony Wagner of Mississauga, and Gary Grieve of Union. In addition to his triumph in the $469,000 William Wellwood Memorial at Mohawk Racetrack on Sept. 17, the Kadabra son has now posted three Gold Elimination victories and one Gold Final win and boasts $420,300 in earnings.
Moffat resident Moiseyev will send The Game Plan after win number eight from Post 6 in next week’s final.
The second trotting colt split saw Prestidigitator deliver an equally convincing victory in spite of starting from Post 10. The Kadabra son took command at the half and sailed across the finish line four lengths ahead of former Gold Final winner Il Mago in 1:57. The Northern Dude trotted into third, with Victim Of Changes and former Gold Final winner Good Sound Advice rounding out the top five.
Dustin Jones conditions Prestidigitator for Ecurie Synergie of Montreal, QC and Milton resident Sylvain Filion steers the youngster. Through seven starts the colt has tallied three wins and two seconds for earnings of $119,437, and he is flawless in two Gold Elimination starts. Prestidigitator made a miscue in the Sept. 30 Gold Final at Flamboro Downs and will be hoping to make amends from Post 4 in the Oct. 14 final.
In between the two trotting colt eliminations the two-year-old pacing fillies took centre stage and Apogee Hanover impressed the Woodbine crowd with an Ontario Sires Stakes record equaling performance.
Mindsweeper rushed out quickly from Post 6 and laid down a :13 opening eighth and a :26.2 quarter for driver Stephen Byron, and then handed the lead over to reigning Gold Final champion Legal Entity at the :55.4 half. Legal Entity only enjoyed a brief view from the top however, as Apogee Hanover powered up the outside and had a three length lead by the 1:23.3 three-quarters.
Although Legal Entity rallied in the stretch she was unable to catch Apogee Hanover, who hit the wire one and three-quarter lengths the best in 1:52. Cooking The Books grabbed the third-place finisher’s share of the $40,000 Gold Elimination purse, just ahead of Grassroots champion Eat Me Up. Two-time Gold Final winner Class Of O Nine completed the top five.
With just 10 fillies competing in the elimination, only Breezin On Bye was eliminated from next week’s Gold Final.
Apogee Hanover’s third lifetime win equaled the Ontario Sires Stakes standard set by Chancey Lady over the Woodbine oval in 2007. The Jeremes Jet lass and driver Scott Zeron will make their bid for a second Gold Final trophy from Post 7 next Friday, racing on behalf of trainer Ervin Miller and owner Roger Hammer of Bedford, PA.
The complete line up for both the two-year-old trotting colt and two-year-old pacing filly Gold Finals is below:
Two-year-old trotting colt Gold Final — Friday, Oct. 7 at Woodbine Racetrack
Post 1 Heres The Magic
Post 2 Warrawee Nimby
Post 3 Reckon Im Ready
Post 4 Prestidigitator
Post 5 Victim Of Changes
Post 6 The Game Plan
Post 7 Majestic Image
Post 8 Il Mago
Post 9 Good Sound Advice
Post 10 The Northern Dude
Also Eligible Keystone Orion
Two-year-old pacing filly Gold Final — Friday, Oct. 7 at Woodbine Racetrack
Post 1 Mindsweeper
Post 2 Legal Entity
Post 3 Your Beautiful
Post 4 Jet Speed
Post 5 Class Of O Nine
Post 6 YS Gold Star
Post 7 Apogee Hanover
Post 8 Classy Lane Rose
Post 9 Cooking The Books
Post 10 Eat Me Up
Also Eligible Breezin On Bye
For complete results please go to: Woodbine Racetrack Results — Oct. 7, 2011