2YO stakes continued at Mohawk Thursday

Woodbine Mohawk Park held a ten-dash card Thursday (Aug 1) night which featured the second leg for a few two-year-old harness racing events. The Pure Ivory for two-year-old trotting fillies was split into two and so was the Millard Farms for the trotting boys. While the pacing fillies only filed one race for the Whenuwishuponastar.

The night started with the one of two splits for the Pure Ivory. A field of six trotting two-year-old fillies drew into the first one. With the inside track, Lasting Dream (Cantab Hall) took the early lead and opened the race in 29.4. After Zette Athena (Sylvain Filion) went off stride in the pocket, it opened up a chance for P L Sapphire (Bob McClure) to challenge for the front end. At 71-1, P L Sapphire set middle fractions of 59.0 and 1:28.2.

As the field hit the three-quarter mark, Lasting Dream popped and tried to regain the lead. However, Grand Reserve (James Macdonald) had more momentum coming three-wide down the stretch but broke at the last second. This allowed Lasting Dream to steal the win and the clock was stopped at 1:56.4.
Fortunately, Grand Reserve still finished second place while P L Sapphire held third.

LASTING DREAM REPLAY

This is the first career win for Lasting Dream and it took her three starts to score. Both of her previous appearances ended with a third-place finish. Luc Blais trains the young filly and Louis-Phillippe Roy picks up his only driving win of the night

The second split also had a field of six fillies go to post but this time, the filly lined up on the outside, Beersnsunshine Deo (Tyler Borth) charged to take the lead. She set up the race and set fractions of 29.3, 59.1 and 1:27.4. With almost a length lead at the head of the stretch, Beersnsunshine Deo started to feel the pressure.

The heavy favourite, Southwind Milk (Walner) hit the jets in the middle of the track and stormed to a victory in 1:55. She finished the race with an impressive 26.3 last quarter.

Clarissa W (Bob McClure) was second best while Highlandstarburst (Louis-Phillippe Roy)had enough to wind up third.

SOUTHWIND MILK REPLAY

The Matthew Bax-trained filly is now a perfect three-for-three to start her career. The 1:55 mile was good enough to be her new lifetime mark while her previous best was 1:56.4. This was the second of three wins on the night for James Macdonald.

Macdonald’s first win on the night came in the first of two Millard Farms for trotting two-year colts & geldings. He was teamed up with another Bax-entry, Extended Session (Walner). They were caught at the back of the pack early, and they let You Guessed It (Tyler Jones) do the early heavy week.
After a 28.2 opening quarter, You Guessed It did have command of the race but Night Phantom (Bob McClure) grew impatient and popped out two-wide. However, he looked to stall and it took his time to get to the front end. It was not until after the 58.4 half that Night Phantom finally took the lead.

You Guessed It and Night Phantom ran out of gas and Extended Session found his opening to pay dirt. A last quarter of 26.4 was needed to win and the final time read 1:56.

Cover Band (Scott Young) had a late surge with a 26.3 last quarter which propelled him to second place. Soutwind Caspian (Matthew Bax) claimed third place.

EXTENDED SESSION REPLAY

Extended Session is also a perfect three-for-three this year and his 1:56 mile is now his personal best.

The second Millard Farms went to Go Ahead Makemyday (Walner) in a wire-to-wire effort. He never faced any real pressure and set fractions of 28.3, 58, and 1:27.2. Under a hand drive from Sylvain Filion, Go Ahead Makemyday hardly broke a sweat and won in 1:56.

Tregaron (Scott Young) came from the back of the pack and clinched second. All Valley (James Macdonald) sat in the pocket for most of the race but fell to third.

GO AHEAD MAKEMYDAY REPLAY

Go Ahead Makemyday picked up his second win in three starts this year. He is coming off a second place in his last appearance which was the first leg of the Millard Farms. Go Ahead Makemyday was the only Blake Macintosh-trained horse to score on the card.

Only five entered into the Whenuwishuponastart and it was won in wire-to-wire fashion. Cant See Me (Captaintreachous) faced no real challenge for the front end. She received no pressure and set fractions of 28.2, 58.3. and 1:27.1. After a pretty easy first three-quarters of a mile, Cant See Me had plenty left and paced a final quarter in 26.4. The clock stopped at 1:54 and Cant See Me won by a couple of lengths.
44-1 longshot, Little Papi (Jody Jamieson) found space late and finished second place. The co-favourite, Au Jus Hanover (James Macdonald) held onto third.

CANT SEE ME REPLAY

Cant See Me has won both of her career starts and paced them both in 1:54. Shawn Stacy trains the young filly and she scored him his only win on the card.

Action resumes at Woodbine Mohawk Park on Friday (Aug. 2) at 7:10 p.m. EDT with another 10-dash card. 

For complete race results, click here.

by Trey Colbeck, for Harnesslink