Periculum soars to $600,000 Maple Leaf Trot triumph

Periculum (Muscle Hill) exploded down the stretch and flew to victory in the $600,000 Maple Leaf Trot, giving harness racing driver Scott Zeron a sweep of the major stakes on the Saturday (Aug. 31) card at Woodbine Mohawk Park.

The stallion floated out three-high into the first turn from post five as Logan Park (Doug McNair) provided the quarter of :26.3 with M-M’s Dream (Dave Miller) parked and pressing. Zeron, in contrast to his earlier Canadian Pacing Derby win, had no desire to see the pylons and kept eliminations winner Periculum on the cover of Hillexotic (Jody Jamieson) to the half in :54.1.

The outer flow began to close in as the field turned for home, and Periculum followed his cover three-wide at three-quarters in 1:22.4. Hillexotic initially kicked home best, but Periculum reached top gear in mid-stretch and hunted down Logan Park, rolling by and storming home to a 1:50.4 victory.

Oh Well (Dexter Dunn) got by Logan Park late for place. The latter held third.

PERICULUM REPLAY

Periculum improved to six-for-10 on the season with the win for trainer Marcus Melander. The stallion, owned by Brixton Medical and Holly Lane Stud East, has earned $863,543 lifetime and won 11 times in 43 lifetime appearances. The five-year-old raced in Sweden last year and returned to North America this season. Saturday’s win was his first at the stakes level of 2024.

To read about the Canadian Pacing Derby, click here. For all the replays of the night’s stakes races, click here.

For complete race results, click here.

by Nicholas Barnsdale, for Harnesslink