July 10, 2024
By Ontario Sires Stakes Communications
MILTON, July 9, 2024 – Rookies took centre stage on a busy night of Ontario Sires Stakes action Tuesday at Woodbine Mohawk Park.
The OSS was featured in six divisions Tuesday, split between two $95,000 Gold Series events for two-year-old trotting males and four $20,000 Grassroots Series races for two-year-old pacing fillies.
In the Gold races, it was Lmc Wagon Wheel (Wheeling N Dealin) and Galen Erso (Green Manalishi S), scoring their first Gold wins.
Lmc Wagon Wheel found the winner’s circle in a time of 1:57.4 for driver and trainer Pat Hudon.
Coming out of the gate in fifth position, Hudon maintained that spot with Lmc Wagon Wheel over the first three splits, coming in with times of :28.1, :57.1 and 1:27.2. Over the last quarter however, Hudon directed Lmc Wagon Wheel to the outside and the big gelding did the rest, sprinting past the competition to win by a length.
“Pat’s very patient, he’s got all the time in the world, he doesn’t have a very big stable and because of that, he’s able to give [the horses] all the attention they need if there’s something that’s bothering them,” said Lmc Wagon Wheel owner Frank Cirillo (Kleinburg, Ont.) in the winner’s circle. “There was a horse last year named Lmc Mr Squishy that couldn’t take that first turn and Pat sat there for an hour to let him to used to the turn to help him out.
“So, that’s the kind of small details that Pat has that he can spend time with the horses that probably some of the bigger stables can’t do, and he’s all hands on. So, he’s just a great guy to deal with.”
A home-bred, Lmc Wagon Wheel was bred by Loredana Cirillo (Kleinburg, Ont.).
In Tuesday’s other Gold division, Galen Erso clocked in at 1:56.1 to score his first stakes victory for trainer Gregg McNair, and owner and breeder Marcus Melander (New Egypt, N.J.).
Galen Erso sat comfortably in fourth place over the first quarter of the trot in a fraction of :28.4 before driver Doug McNair called for him to make a move to the outside just before the halfway point, reaching the midway mark in :58.2 and take the lead. Galen Erso wouldn’t relinquish first from there, leading by as much as two lengths at the three-quarter pole, getting there in 1:27.4 and eventually winning by three-quarters of a length.
“Tonight was kind of like his first start and you just didn’t want to over-drive him too much and let him trot through the wire, which is what we did, and we capitalized tonight,” said Doug McNair after the race.
In the Grassroots Series races, Chantilly (Big Jim) won the first division of the evening for owner and breeder Millar Farms (Stouffville, Ont.), and trainer Nick Galluci with James MacDonald driving.
Forrest Leah (Bettors Delight) won the second Grassroots division for driver and trainer John Thomson. Thomson (Peterborough, Ont.) also co-owns Forrest Leah with Larry Todd (Oakwood, Ont.). She was bred by M And L Of Delaware LLC (Wilmington, De.) and Century Spring Farms (Gorrie, Ont.).
Tuesday’s third Grassroots division saw Tricky Wicky (McWicked) score her first career win. David and John Prushnok (Indiana, Pa.) both own and bred the horse, while Rene Dion trained her and Jody Jamieson piloted her.
Lastly, the Dave Menary-trained Saddlebags (Control The Moment) took the final Grassroots event with Bob McClure driving. Saddlebags was bred by Princeton Farms Inc. (Princeton, Ont.) and is owned by Menary Racing Inc. (Rockton, Ont.), Larry Menary (Branchton, Ont.), Ryan Morefield (Howell, Mich.) and Denise Guerriero (Brampton, Ont.).
Complete results from Friday’s program are available here and replays can be viewed on the Woodbine Mohawk Park website.
The next OSS Gold series race will see the debut of this year’s rookie filly trotters at Woodbine Mohawk Park on July 11.
FEATURED PHOTO: Lmc Wagon Wheel winning an OSS Gold Series division for two-year-old males at Woodbine Mohawk Park on July 9, 2024.
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