McNair and Levitation sail to Gold win

AUGUST 1, 2017 – Levitation rose to the top of the two-year-old trotting colt class with a gate-to-wire harness racing victory in Ontario Sire Stakes Gold Series action at Mohawk Racetrack on Tuesday, August 1.

Starting from Post 4 driver Doug McNair of Guelph, ON sent the fan favourite directly to the front and set a very conservative tempo. Through fractions of :30, 1:00.2 and 1:30.4, McNair and Levitation maintained an almost two-length lead over pocket-sitters Jimmy Takter and Cousin Rickard. In the stretch Winning American and driver Jody Jamieson took aim on the leaders but, after a brief hesitation, Levitation found another gear and pulled away to a one length victory in 1:58.4. Winning American finished second while Perfetto, in rein to Trevor Henry, recovered from a break at the midway point to be third.

"He raced good. The fractions were on his side, but he did it pretty handily," said McNair. "I think he's going to keep getting better and better. He's very green on the lead, still learning how to change gears."

McNair drove the son of Kadabra and Southwind Amiga to his first lifetime win for New Jersey-based trainer Tony Alagna, David Anderson of Aurora, ON, who also bred the colt, and his partner Robert Leblanc of Austin, TX. In his Gold Series debut at Georgian Downs on July 9, Levitation finished third after leading early in the mile. The youngster prepped for the Ontario Sires Stakes campaign with a pair of qualifiers at New Jersey's The Meadowlands Racetrack in June.

"When we shipped him up to race in the first Gold he'd missed a qualifier due to sickness so I didn't think he was quite as physically ready as he was coming into this race," noted Alagna. "I thought he would give a very good account of himself the first start at Georgian Downs, first lifetime start on the five-eighths mile track as well, but he came up short. We got him a little more fit, a little more healthy going into this race and I thought he raced super tonight.

"He was kind of a late to mature colt, he was very tall, but he didn't really have a lot of muscle on him yet, and the more we trained him through the winter the stronger he got," Alagna added. "Right before we left Florida you could really tell he was coming into himself and once we got him up north in Jersey he just really clicked and he's been good ever since."

Levitation

Tuesday's win moved Levitation to the top of the two-year-old trotting colt point standings with a total of 62 points, 12 points ahead of Winning American and Fordham Road, who won the opening leg, but was absent from the field on Tuesday. The two-year-old trotting colts will make their third Gold Series start at Mohawk on August 18.

Tuesday's program also featured a performance by the RCMP Musical Ride, part of the cross Canada tour in celebration of Canada's 150th birthday. The Musical Ride will also perform on Wednesday, Aug. 2 at 2 pm. The doors open at 12 pm and there are bouncy castles, pony rides, face painting, glitter tattoos, balloon art, a dog agility show, Touch-A-Truck area and more to entertain the smallest fans while they wait for the ride to begin. Tickets are $10 in advance or $15 at the door and children 12 and under are free. For more information visit http://www.woodbineentertainment.com/Mohawk/Racing/Pages/RCMP-Musical-Ride-.aspx.

Ontario Sires Stakes action returns to the Campbellville oval on Thursday, August 3 with two Grassroots divisions for the two-year-old trotting colts. Thursday's program gets under way at 7:30 pm, and the colts will compete in Races 3 and 6.

OSS Program Information

For rules, notices, Program changes, up-to-date point standings, race replays, and more, visit: www.ontariosiresstakes.com

Ontario Racing