General Brock Series – two $18,000 divisions

TORONTO, February 9 – Cash For Gold and Bourbon Bay came away with second leg victories in the General Brock harness racing series Monday night at Woodbine.

A group of 17 trotters were split into two $18,000 divisions for the second round of the three-week series.

The second division featured a matchup between both winners from the first leg, Bourbon Bay and Severus Hanover.

The race got off to a hot start, as Bourbon Bay grabbed the early lead, but Severus Hanover sprinted up on the outside to clear to the front at the opening quarter in :26.4.

Bourbon Bay and driver Mike Saftic quickly moved back to the lead and posted a half-mile time of :56.2.

After reaching the three-quarter pole in 1:25.3, Bourbon Bay stretched out his lead to several lengths in the stretch and cruised home to an impressive 4 ½ length victory in 1:54.3.

Illseeuincourt rallied to finish second, while Tellmehowyoulikeit took the show spot. Severus Hanover faded back to finish seventh.

A four-year-old son of Sand Vic, Bourbon Bay is now two for two since moving north of the border into the Mike Sinclair barn. The gelding trotter is leased by John Cumming Jr. and now has a record of three wins from five starts in 2015.

The clocking of 1:54.3 is a new lifetime mark for Bourbon Bay, who surpassed $50,000 in career earnings with the victory.

Bourbon Bay returned $3 to win and will now have a chance at a General Brock series sweep next week.

Bourbon Bay

In the first division of the evening, Cash For Gold made a second-quarter move to the lead and it was lights out from there.

Trained and driven by Michael Vanderkemp, Cash For Gold, the 6/5 favourite, got away in third, but made a quick move down the backstretch to overtake the lead from the second choice Bags For All at the half in :58.

After an easy third-quarter of :30.1, Cash For Gold was able to sprint home in :28 and score a two-length victory over Bags For All. Stuarts Dynasty got up for third.

The round two victory gave Cash For Gold his first win from four starts in 2015. The four-year-old son of Cash Hall was coming off a third-place finish in a first leg division last week.

Owned by Sonja Booth, Cash For Gold now has three career victories and earnings exceeding $57,000. Monday evening's clocking of 1:56.1 lowered his lifetime mark by a fifth of a second.

A $2 win ticket on Cash For Gold returned $4.70.

Cash For Gold

The $50,800 General Brock series final will take place next Monday (February 16).

Mark McKelvie