REXDALE, ON — Invitro rebounded from a difficult trip in the elimination round to post her first victory of the season in Monday night’s $130,000 Gold Final at Woodbine Racetrack.
Leaving from Post 3 the Camluck daughter and driver Paul MacDonell sat well back in fifth through the early stages of the race while elimination winner Special Magic took the field of three-year-old pacing fillies through fractions of :26.4 and :56. Heading for the 1:24.1 three-quarters MacDonell sent Invitro up the outside and the gritty filly pressed Special Magic until the top of the stretch where she kicked into overdrive and powered away to the two and a half length victory.
“I was fairly confident,” said MacDonell after the race. “She was pacing pretty easy and she never does get away from the gate too well. She has shown before that she can do it without cover and when she hit the head of the stretch she just paced away on the rest of them.”
The pair stopped the teletimer at 1:52, which MacDonell deemed impressive over the sloppy track, rated one second slower than normal.
“I think you’ll find as the night goes on that it was a pretty exceptional mile; 1:52 and the track was taking a lot of water there late,” said MacDonell from the winner’s circle. “She was pretty impressive to me.”
Gordon Irwin of Cobourg trains the winner of $334,190 for his partner Murray Ross of Norwood. The pair also bred Invitro, who acquired her name after being conceived by in vitro fertilization and then carried by a surrogate mare while her mother Keystone Trinidad continued to race.
Woodbine Racetrack fans sent Invitro off as the favourite for the second straight week and the filly returned $4.50 on a win ticket, $3.20 for a place wager and $2.80 on a show bet. Third choice Special Magic paid $4.80 to place and $3.70 to show, while Manhattan Killean’s supporters earned $6.10 from her third-place effort. The Invitro-Special Magic exactor was worth $21.40, adding Manhattan Killean bumped the triactor pay out to $311.40 and those playing the superfecta banked $745.80 by selecting fourth-place finisher Double The Fun.
The hyper-competitive three-year-old pacing filly division now heads to Flamboro Downs on July 9 for the third Gold Series event of the season, while Woodbine Racetrack hosts the three-year-old trotting colts in Gold Elimination action this Saturday, June 26.