Woodbine Mohawk Park held another 10-dash harness racing card on Saturday (Aug. 3) night. The feature event was the $36,000 Preferred Pace in the ninth race.
The 17-1 underdog, The Greek Freak (Tyler Jones) took the early lead and opened the race with a 26.4 first quarter. Whichwaytothebeach (Sylvain Filion) took the pocket trip briefly but decided to make a move as the field hit the backstretch. Taurasi (Doug McNair) followed out and once Whichwaytothebeach cleared the front. Ā They were jostling for the lead and set middle fractions of 53.2 and 1:20.3. Still caught out two wide, Taruasi was forced to work hard and even stuck his nose out in front. As the field hit the stretch, Taurasi and Whichwaytothebeach started to fade, and a couple of different faces emerged.
Redwood Hanover (Jonathan Drury) took possession of the lead, but it wasnāt very long until Write Me A Rose sailed on by and stole the win in 1:48.0. Ā A huge 26.2 last quarter by Write Me A Rose was a full second faster than Redwood Hanoverās.
However, Redwood Hanover would retain second place and Taurasi would only fade to third.
WRITE ME A ROSE REPLAY
At 10-1, Write Me A Rose scored his seventh win of 2024 and the 13th of his career. The 1:48 mile time beat his previous best by a full second. The four-year-old horse seems to be on an upward trajectory as he has won two of his last three and has been earning cheques in his last seven starts. Robert Fellows trains Write Me A Rose and it was his only win on the night. Fellows now has 82 training wins in the year and he has earned over $1.2 million in prize money.
It was the first time behind Write Me A Rose for Travis Cullen. It was also Cullenās only win on the card. Cullen has surpassed $2 million in earnings for the third straight year.
Racing will resume at Woodbine Mohawk Park on Monday (Aug. 5) with another ten-dash card. A pair of $150,000 Mid-season Ontario Sires Stake for two-year-old trotters are on the card.
For complete race results,Ā click here.
byĀ Trey Colbeck,Ā for Harnesslink