July 14, 2024
By Ontario Sires Stakes Communications
MILTON, July 13, 2024 – Ways N Means (Muscle Mass) won the $150,000 Ontario Sires Stakes Gold Mid-Season Final for three-year-old trotting males Saturday night at Woodbine Mohawk Park.
Scoring the victory in a time of 1:53, the victory was the first Gold Series win for Ways N Means, even though the win won’t count towards the OSS Gold leaderboard.
“Particularly because it’s the Mid-Season [Final], it’s a very big paycheque. So that’s exciting,” said Ways N Means trainer Michael Keeling after the race. “He’s been knocking on the door this year and just having him move up from being a really good Grassroots horse to being one of the better Gold horses is just a real testament to how he matured. So we’re really excited about [the win].”
Ways N Means scored a couple Grassroots Series wins last year as a two-year old and looks to have taken a step up in class this year.
“He was very immature [last year]. Mentally immature,” Keeling added. “He still has his moments, but when he’s composed and he’s got his head straight, he’s a formidable horse.”
Coming out of the gate, driver Doug McNair positioned Ways N Means behind 2-1 favourite Willowtime (Lookslikeachpndale) and remained in that pocket position for the first three-quarters of the mile in fractions of :26.3, :55.4 and 1:24.2. During the final stretch, McNair made a move to the inside, right by rail, and then Ways N Means did the rest.
“Willowtime won the Super Final last year, so that’s a good horse to follow,” said McNair. “He’s a speedy horse and he takes you where you need to go.”
Ways N Means was bred by Steve Stewart (Paris, Ky.), Kemppi Stables Oy Inc. (Delray Beach, Fla.) and Pond- A- Acres (New Haven, Ind.), and is owned by Dreamville Stable (Cambridge, Ont.) and Harbor Racing Stable LLC (Uxbridge, Ont.).
In other OSS action Saturday, the $40,000 Mid-Season Consolation for three-year-old trotting males was won by Masstercraft (Muscle Mass) in a time of 1:53.4.
The 5-1 longshot came out of its Post 6 position with an early lead clocking in at :28.2 over the first quarter of the race. Masstercraft reached the midway mark in :57, but found himself in second behind heavy 4-5 favourite Scintillating Tom (Alarm Detector). He would remain in pursuit of Scintillating Tom through three quarters of the race, reaching that fraction in 1:24.4, and eventually managed to chase the favourite down and come up with the upset victory.
“That was kind of the trip we were looking for,” said trainer Kyle Bossence. “He can get a little lazy on the front end, so I was just kind of hoping somebody would cover him up along the backside and was then just hoping he would have enough left coming home.”
Trevor Henry was in the sulky behind Masstercraft, who is owned by Steven Colvin (Hanover, Ont.), and was bred by Richard Thompson (London, Ont.).
Complete results from Saturday’s program are available here and replays can be viewed on the Woodbine Mohawk Park website.
The next OSS Gold Series races go July 15 and 16, with two-year-old pacing males and fillies, both at Woodbine Mohawk Park, respectively.
FEATURED PHOTO: Ways N Means winning the OSS Gold Mid-Season Final for three-year-old trotting males at Woodbine Mohawk Park on July 13, 2024 (Clive Cohen/New Image Media)
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