CAMPBELLVILLE, ON — When World Class Image hit the wire first in Thursday night’s $130,000 Gold Final at Mohawk Racetrack, Pat Hunt let out a breath he has been holding for almost three months.

After the three-year-old trotting filly acquired a serious lung virus in the spring, Hunt was not sure how it would impact her sophomore season. Thursday’s triumph, along with last week’s elimination victory, provided firm proof that the Balanced Image miss is back on track and once again ready to contend as one of the top fillies in the Ontario Sires Stakes program.

“She trained down perfectly. She was on time, and just as I got her ready to qualify we had a lung virus go through the barn with the older horses. She was one of them and it cost us about two and a half months,” said Hunt, who trains the winner of $232,432 for Thomas and Elizabeth Rankin of St. Catharines. “It wasn’t planned to be this late, but as long as we get there.”

Randy Waples drove World Class Image to the 1:57.1 victory, firing her off the starting gate from Post 8 to a :27.3 opening quarter and then shadowing Paul MacDonell and Honour Way through fractions of :58 and 1:28. Heading down the stretch Waples shifted World Class Image into second gear and the filly dug in to hold off a fast closing Whatthehecklavec by a neck. Maleficent closed from the back of the field to claim the third-place share, while Honour Way faded to fourth.

“I got a covered up trip and I was kind of looking for that,” said Waples. “It worked out really well. Pat always gives me a good chance because his horses are in great condition. He’s a really easy guy to drive for. He is a super guy and he deserves this win.”

The win also served to allay Hunt’s concerns about how World Class Image would handle the retention barn this season. In her first outing from Mohawk’s overnight accommodations, the July 30 Canadian Breeders Championship Final, she looked poised to win at the top of the stretch and then faded badly to finish fifth. Hunt was concerned that the filly’s disinterest in her food and water during the stay in retention may have contributed to her failure to find another gear.

“The farm that Pat is stabled at — Mr. Rankin’s farm — is a palace, it has big stalls and it is her own environment. She knows all the other horses in the barn and she knows the routine. Sometimes when you take a horse — especially a filly — out of that routine and you put her on a racetrack, it is a totally different thing,” explained Waples after the race. “The stalls are different, there are a lot more horses in the barn and it is a lot of action going on there. Sometimes they just don’t take to it.

“It’s something that you have to go through and the good ones muster their way through it, like she did tonight,” he added. “Some of the other horses, it has a really bad effect on, but she was really good tonight and hopefully she will get over that little hump and keep going through the rest of the year.”

World Class Image’s first opportunity to defend her Gold Final title will come Aug. 25 at Rideau Carleton Raceway when the three-year-old trotting fillies will make their way to the Ottawa oval for the fourth of five Gold Series events on their schedule. Ontario Sires Stakes excitement returns to Mohawk Racetrack next Tuesday, Aug. 23 with Gold Series Eliminations for the two-year-old trotting fillies.

For complete results please go to:

http://www.standardbredcanada.ca/results/data/rmohsth.html#N5