Sweet Detrmination heads for postseason on a high

MILTON, October 1 – Only one harness racing filly has bested standout two-year-old trotter Righteous Resolve this season, Patrick Lang trainee Sweet Detrmination (Lookslikeachpndale).

Lang’s filly currently leads her OSS division and is gunning for her third top-level OSS victory of the season in one of four $100,000-plus divisions, as the final Gold Leg for female and male freshman trotters goes October 3 at Woodbine Mohawk Park.

“She’s proved herself to be a really good horse and is only going to improve,” said Lang. “She is still improving now. I expect her to improve for a long time, and I don’t think she is anywhere near her peak.”

Her steady improvement is all part of the Ancaster, Ont., resident’s plan for the filly he bred in partnership with Matthew Harrison of Port Perry, Ont., and Denis St Pierre and Tiffanee Staley from Guelph, Ont.

Sweet Detrmination passed on the Grand Circuit mania this past month at Woodbine Mohawk Park, and in fact, she has only made five starts this season, four in the OSS, and one in a June baby race at the Milton oval.

Lang and his co-owner Dewitt Stables of Little Britain, Ont., have been rewarded for their measured approach to her freshman campaign with a record of 2-3-0 and $156,400 in earnings.

“I want her to be fit for the final, and be super next year, and right now she is as sound as she’s ever been,” said Lang. “Coming to the end of the year we have a sound two-year-old with $150,000 on her card. I couldn’t ask any more of her.”

There was certainly plenty of temptation for Lang to race his filly more often, with north of $1.5 million up for grabs in the Peaceful Way, the Champlain, and the Mohawk Million all in the past six weeks, but he felt his hard trying filly was best suited to stick to her current plan.

“She tries so hard that I know if I put her in with the best horse in the world, she’d end up finishing right on her wheel,” said Lang. “But she’d work her heart out to do it. She’s just that much of a trier.”

Lang has seen the determination, no pun intended, his filly has shown in other Lookslikeachpndale progeny, and he’s heard the same from other horsepeople. The former stallion manager at Tara Hills Stud, who by his own count has broken nearly 500 horses, is well suited to recognize a pattern.

“I think these Looklikeachpndale’s all seem to give everything they have,” said Lang. “Maybe they aren’t all as good gaited as her, but they all try really hard. I think they are decent horses, and he is going to be a good stallion.”

The freshman stallion is fifth on the OSS trotting leaderboard with $354,207 in progeny earnings and counts fellow freshman OSS winner Oh Look Magic among his leading progeny from his first crop.

In order to add to a winner’s share of the $100,400 purse to her stallion’s earnings on Monday night Sweet Detrmination the 2-1 top choice by morning line will have to best five other fillies in race six on the card as she leaves from post four.

The OSS action gets underway on the card in race two a $101,300 division, with Righteous Resolve (Resolve) tabbed as the odds-on favourite at 4-5 despite drawing the outside post in a field of seven.

Trained by John Bax and owned by Bet Max Stables Inc (Casco, MI) and Benenati Inc (Clinton Twp, MI), the Resolve filly has earned over $370,000 this year and comes into the final Gold Leg off wins in the $83,098 Champlain and $362,000 Peaceful Way Final. Paul MacDonell will be in the race bike.

Dowedealinandwhy (Wheeling N Dealin) headlines the male half of the card, tabbed as the 7-2 first choice among nine colts in race seven, a $103,100 Gold division. The Rob Fellows trainee has a 2-1-0 record in four OSS starts this season and sits atop the freshman trotting colt standings for owners Yolanda Fellows of Rockwood, Ont., and Irene Carey from Belgrave, Ont.

Race four completes the OSS double bill on the male side, also a $103,100 with nine horses entered. My MVP colt Dws Point Man is morning line favourite at 7-2. He held the lead early in last week’s Mohawk Million but was unable to close the deal. Louis Philippe-Roy drives the Richard Moreau trainee for owners Ecurie Csl- 9174 7998 Quebec Inc. (Sorel-Tracy, Que.).

The four divisions will make for an exciting night of racing to cap off the OSS Gold season for freshman trotters ahead of the October 15 Super Final at Woodbine Mohawk, where eight will be contested for $1.8 million in total purses.

For complete race entries, click here.