Debutantes take OSS Gold spotlight

First-time starters Speak Your Mind and Prohibition Legal got stakes-winning starts to their harness racing careers as they each scored a $100,600 two-year-old pacing filly division of the Ontario Sires Stakes Gold on Friday at Woodbine Mohawk Park.

Prohibition Legal, a Nick Gallucci-trained daughter of Big Jim, hiked first-over in the second division to become the faster winner of the two.

Driver James MacDonald dropped the filly into fifth from the start as foes battled two-wide for the lead going into the first turn. I Love Ongait (Bob McClure) slingshotted to the front after the first quarter mile in :27.4, and Prohibition Legal started a charge of her own going to the half in :58. The latter grinded forward to three-quarters in 1:26.1 and was a length and a half back as they turned into the stretch.

I Love Ongait resisted the challenger until the eighth pole, at which point Prohibition Legal produced another surge and drew off to win by a length in 1:54. I Love Ongait was second-best. Bettor Double Flip (Doug McNair) used the winner’s cover to take show.

“I didn’t really want to brush her hard to the front,” MacDonald said in a post-race interview. “I kind of wanted to take my time – she had qualified so well, I was super confident in her […] She was just a pro. She is green, but she’s lazy and when you ask her she’s more than happy to do it.”

PROHIBITION LEGAL REPLAY

Prohibition Legal is a homebred for Millar Farms of Stouffville. She paid $8.20 to win. MacDonald caught fire after the victory and added two more to his tally in the following pair of dashes.

Speak Your Mind defeated fellow Artspeak offspring Speaker Nancy in a stretch duel in the first group.

Speaker Nancy (Trevor Henry) blasted off the wings from post seven and settled into the top spot in a :28.4 first panel. Speak Your Mind took the pocket, but pilot Tyler Moore was dissatisfied with that position and sent the filly to the lead prior to the half in :58.2. Marykeeponburnin (Louis-Philippe Roy) made a first-over bid as the field of seven approached three-quarters in 1:27.1 but flattened out in the late stages.

Speaker Nancy threatened on the inside as entered the stretch and made headway, but Speak Your Mind held off that rival and earned her Gold victory in 1:55.3. Speaker Nancy was second. Marykeeponburnin maintained her pace after the first-up attack and finished third.

SPEAK YOUR MIND REPLAY

Ian Moore trains Speak Your Mind for Frank Cannon of Sanford, who purchased the filly for $6,000 from the 2020 Lexington Select Sale.

Ontario Sires Stakes competition continues on Saturday, Jul. 3 at Woodbine Mohawk Park with one $158,800 division for three-year-old colt and gelding pacers and two splits for freshmen pacing males worth $101,400 and $102,200. First post will be 7:00 p.m. EDT.

For full race results, click here.

by Nicholas Barnsdale, for Harnesslink