Emoticon Legacy smashes Canadian record in $615,000 Trotting Classic

MILTON, September 20, 2025— Emoticon Legacy ruled over the Woodbine Mohawk Park surface again when beating his own track and Canadian harness racing record with a stakes-record performance in the Grade 1 $615,000 Canadian Trotting Classic on Saturday while also becoming the first trotting sophomore to eclipse the 1:50 barrier in Canada.

Driver Louis-Philippe Roy sent Emoticon Legacy towards the top against Happy Jack B in a charge to the first turn. Roy cleared command after a :25.4 first quarter and coasted for a slight reprieve up the backside to a :54.3 half. Maryland, racing in fourth, pulled off the pegs and loomed along the rim towards Emoticon Legacy, though Roy promptly notched his charge into another gear off three-quarters in 1:22.1 and scampered away. Emoticon Legacy sealed the race by the eighth pole as Roy raced purely against the clock, nursing the emboldened colt on loose lines to register a 1:49.4 mile. Maryland gave pursuit in second, beaten three lengths, with Gap Kronos S taking third and Fadeaway Hanover rallying for fourth.

EMOTICON LEGACY REPLAY

“That was the first time this year that leaving the gate he was a little hot,” Roy said after the race. “He wasn’t giving me the option, so I was just sitting on him waiting. I was just letting him trot – once he was on the front, I could do what I want. But I saw Maryland coming first up at the half and I said ‘I don’t think it’s a good time to take a break and get him close to us.’ I feel like he never gets tired. I hope he doesn’t get me wrong, but I think he’ll be pretty hard to beat.

“The first quarter took a bit more stress than last time,” Roy also said, referencing the colt’s 1:50.3 Simcoe win on Aug. 30. “You ask a trotter to go a first quarter in :25.4, for sure he’s going to get a little tired. But he keeps trotting and comes a last quarter in :27 or something. Tonight was probably all he could go, and I still believe that [in the Simcoe] he had at least a full second under his seat. He loves to fight a horse, so once he’s on the front and gets one coming to him I think that’s what would’ve pushed him to go faster. Right now he’s hard to beat that way.”

The 1:49.4 mile lowers the 1:50.2 mark that Emoticon Legacy established earlier this season in winning the Goodtimes Stakes final on Pepsi North America Cup night. It also matches the all-age mark of 1:49.4 set by stallion Aetos Kronos S when winning his Maple Leaf Trot elimination this year, but comes shy of the fastest trotting mile ever in Canada of 1:49.1 set by aged gelding Lexus Kody in this year’s Maple Leaf Trot final.

Luc Blais trains Emoticon Legacy, a homebred Walner colt out of the Kadabra mare Emoticon Hanover, for owner Determination. ​

“He learned how to deal with the pressure this year,” Blais said after the race. “I think he’s more mature, that’s it. He’s a real athlete. He recuperates fast after each race, he’s never sick. That’s easy for me to deal with. It’s an incredible feeling. Emoticon Hanover gave us a big thrill and that guy gives me the same feeling.”

Emoticon Legacy has now won 10 races from 15 starts and entered millionaire status with $1,178,770 in the bank. Off the 1-5 favourite, he paid $2.60 to win.

For complete race results, click here.

by Ray Cotolo, for Woodbine Entertainment