Darbyshire back to victory lane with new mark

Ontario Sires Stakes competitor Darbyshire (Muscle Mass) dropped into conditioned harness racing company and put in a career-best performance on Thursday (Jun. 15) at Woodbine Mohawk Park.

James MacDonald sent him to the front from third coming down the backstretch and hustled through the third quarter. New Rules (Austin Sorrie) chased the leader down the lane, but Darbyshire proved up to the task and held him off to score by three-quarters-of-a-length in 1:53.3. New Rules finished second, narrowly ahead of the flying All Star Yankee (Sylvain Filion).

DARBYSHIRE REPLAY

Darbyshire has won twice this season. He was double-digit lengths back in the SBOA Stakes final and an Ontario Sires Stakes Gold contest in May. He won four Grassroots legs at two and was favoured for both the Balanced Image final and Grassroots semi-final but broke in both. Matt Bax trains the sophomore who is owned by Bax Stable of Campbellville, Glengate Farms of Erin, Goin To The Show Stable of Peterborough, and Happy Trails Stables of London. Overall, the gelding is seven-for-14 with a bankroll of $68,913.

Bob McClure was the night’s leading reinsman with four wins.

Woodbine Mohawk Park will host six Ontario Sires Stakes Grassroots divisions on its next card on Friday, Jun. 16. First post will be 7:00 p.m. EDT.

For complete race results, click here.

by Nicholas Barnsdale, for Harnesslink