CAMPBELLVILLE, ON — Ontario’s two-year-old pacing colts have been impressive since their debut at Mohawk Racetrack in June and they gave Campbellville area fans another thrilling finish in Friday’s $130,000 Gold Final.

Former Gold Final winner Tarpon Hanover was awarded favoured status by a small margin over last week’s first time elimination winner Mach It So, but it was his stablemate Windsong Jack who stormed away from the gate to an early lead. Rolling away from Post 3 to a :13.1 opening eighth, Windsong Jack and driver Randy Waples had left the field four lengths behind by the :27.3 quarter. Mach Set Go was sitting in the pocket with Glammit third and Tarpon Hanover fourth.

Windsong Jack and Waples carried on to a comfortable :56.3 half before seeing any action, and when they did the surge from the back was led by Tarpon Hanover and driver Scott Zeron. The fan favourites had moved to within one and a half lengths of the pacesetter by the 1:24.4 three-quarters, but Windsong Jack and Waples had no notion of relinquishing their lead.

The stablemates battled around the final turn, while the field ranged out four wide behind them in an attempt to circle around the stalled Bad Boy Hill. At the 1:38.2 seven-eighths it appeared that Windsong Jack would defend the Gold Final title he won Sept. 15 at Flamboro Downs, leaving Tarpon Hanover to settle for second, but neither colt had reckoned on elimination winner Up Up And Out.

Seventh for most of the mile and seemingly buried in traffic, Up Up And Out edged out four-wide coming around the final turn and kicked into a gear driver Doug McNair did not know he had. Flying down the stretch Up Up And Out stormed by the leaders in the final strides to claim a neck victory in a personal best 1:52.3. Windsong Jack had to settle for second, a length ahead of stablemate Tarpon Hanover.

Fourth and fifth-place finishers Mach Pride and Glammit were three and five lengths behind the leaders after suffering interference when Mach Set Go made a late break in the pocket.

Guelph resident McNair engineered the win — which was the result of Up Up And Out’s :26.2 final quarter — for trainer Ervin Miller of Debary, FL and his partner Roger Hammer of Bedford, PA. The win was the second straight for Up Up And Out and his fourth lifetime. Through 11 starts the Jeremes Jet gelding has also posted two seconds and banked $118,400.

Miller and Hammer purchased Up Up And Out at last fall’s Harrisburg Yearling Sale, offering up $40,000 for the offspring of Mellow Out, who is a half-sister to $944,694 winner Duke Of Abby and $691,543 winner Delightful Diva. After winning a leg of the Dream Maker Series, the gelding made his Ontario Sires Stakes debut in the second Gold Series event, squeaking into the final after making a break and finishing ninth in the 10-horse elimination at Rideau Carleton Raceway.

Up Up And Out redeemed himself with a fourth-place effort in the July 22 Gold Final at Rideau Carleton, but made another break in the Dream Maker Final at Mohawk one week later. Miller opted to drop the colt down to the Grassroots level for his second provincial appearance, but Up Up And Out made an early break in that Aug. 13 event and trailed across the Mohawk finish line in ninth.

A qualifier was required after the second break and since that Aug. 20 refresher course, the gelding has been solid. He finished eighth in a Mohawk overnight event on Aug. 27, came up with a 1:55.3 win in a Sept. 4 overnight at Georgian Downs and a second in his Sept. 11 Grassroots division back at Georgian.

In last week’s Gold Elimination Up Up And Out returned to the winner’s circle with an impressive seven and one-quarter length win in 1:53. The gelding will have one opportunity to defend his Gold Final title when the two-year-old pacing colts wrap up their regular season at Georgian Downs on Oct. 6 and 13.

Friday’s Gold Final completed Mohawk Racetrack’s 2012 Ontario Sires Stakes season, which saw provincial records rewritten by three-year-old pacing colt Warrawee Needy and two-year-old trotting colt Murmur Hanover.

For complete results please go to Mohawk Racetrack Results — September 28, 2012