Two-year-old pacing filly Savethelastdance joined her older sister Silver Label in the Ontario Sires Stakes spotlight this week with a 1:51.4 career-best performance on Friday night (Sept. 2) at Woodbine Mohawk Park.
Driven by James MacDonald for trainer Nick Gallucci, Savethelastdance stormed home off cover to win the first $103,100 Gold division of the night for the freshman fillies.
The outside starters flashed early gate speed with Freshen Up (Doug McNair) crossing over in front of divisional point leader Big Big Plans (Trevor Henry) into the first turn. After opening splits of :26.1 and :54.4, 77-1 longshot Tre Ta Ta (Beau Brown) launched first-up from third to apply pressure on the way to three-quarters in 1:24.1 with 1-5 favourite Savethelastdance, who got away sixth early on, catching her cover and ready to roll when they straightened into the stretch. Sprinting her final quarter in :27.1, Savethelastdance raged home to win by nearly three lengths over the late-closing Illusion Seelster (Sylvain Filion) and Big Big Plans while Freshen Up settled for fourth.
Now a two-time Gold winner, Savethelastdance is four-for-five in her rookie campaign and has amassed $128,607 in purses.
"She's a little erratic right now. Anyone that watched her race [in the last Gold on Aug. 17] at Grand River [could see] she had a little temper tantrum but Nick's done a great job with her and he's getting her more calm every time she races and that's making my job easier," said MacDonald after the race. "She's got all the tools, we've just got to make sure she's doing it the right way because you don't want her to learn any bad habits early."
Owned and bred by Millar Farms of Stouffville, Ont., Savethelastdance is a Bettors Delight filly out of the Real Desire mare Hidden Gem. She is a full sister to five-time Gold winner Silver Label, who scored her latest OSS triumph on Sunday at Rideau Carleton Raceway.
"Obviously, she's got the speed that Silver Label had early," said Gallucci when comparing Savethelastdance to her sibling. "I would say she has even more, she's just not as ratable. She's very noise sensitive so we tried to plug her ears up a little bit more today and it seemed like she was more drivable today than she was last week."
It’s been a busy week for Gallucci. In between these OSS successes, he became a dad for the first time.
“It’s a lot to take in obviously,” said Gallucci. “It was really special, and something we have been looking forward to for a really long time. It really opens your eyes to the big scheme of things, and I am lucky to have a really good crew at home, and they look after the day to day, and I am very grateful for them.”
His partner Karoline Nielsen is manning the ship at home, while Gallucci adjusts to his new routine.
“Karoline has been my backbone for the last five years in the stable, so we’re missing having her,” said Gallucci. “But luckily other people have stepped up to the plate and we are still getting everything we need to done, so just very lucky.”
The second $102,200 Gold division was won by 1-5 favourite Cheesy Smile, who took a new lifetime mark of 1:53 with Bob McClure driving for trainer and co-owner John Pentland.
Hoping to sweep the fourth leg of the Gold Series, driver James MacDonald sent the Anthony Beaton-trained filly Lyons Bettorday to the lead from the outside post eight and hit the quarter in :27.3 before stealing a second quarter breather.
The half flashed up in :57.3, but McClure wasn't worried as he moved his filly underway from fifth. "Sprint's kind of her game," he noted afterwards.
Lyons Bettorday was still clear on top as they raced by three-quarters in 1:26 while Cheesy Smile progressed first-over to take over second-place.
Kicking home in :26.3, Cheesy Smile caught up with Lyons Bettorday in deep stretch and won by three-quarters of a length. Momentary Control (Tyler Jones) rallied late from the backfield to finish second just ahead of Lyons Bettorday.
"She kind of hangs at the bridle at times so I didn't want to clear James real quick because he knows that too -- if you get by one real quick, she'll come back a little bit -- but John changed the bridle last week and there was none of that today," said McClure. "When I gave her her head halfway down the lane, she just paced right through it."
Cheesy Smile picked up her second Gold trophy and is now four-for-six in her debut season with $156,647 banked in purses. A $38,000 Harrisburg yearling sale purchase, the Betterthancheddar-Frame Worthy filly is owned by Pentland and partners Cindy Molyneux of Sparta, Ont., Peter Charlton of St. Thomas, Ont., and Archie Leach of London, Ont. The filly is a half-sister to OSS graduate Andra Day, a two-time Gold winner who has earned $272,839 lifetime.
Savethelastdance and Cheesy Smile are both pointed to the Shes A Great Lady Stakes, which has eliminations scheduled for Sept. 17 and the $540,000 estimated final following on Sept. 24.
To view Friday's harness racing results, click the following link: Friday Results - Woodbine Mohawk Park.