After a disappointing start to his sophomore campaign, 2011 O'Brien Award winner Warrawee Needy proved he's back on top of his game with an electrifying 1:48.4 Ontario Sires Stakes record in the fourth $130,000 Gold Final of the season for the Glamour Boy division Saturday night at Mohawk Racetrack.
Warrawee Needy fired to the lead from post six in the seven-horse field of three-year-old pacing colts and geldings with Jody Jamieson is tow and carved out fractions of :26.2, :54.2, and 1:21.3 en route to the career-best 1:48.4 victory by five lengths. Mel Mara and Yannick Gingras rallied three-wide off cover to finish second and pocket-sitter I Found My Beach (Randy Waples) was third.
Warrawee Needy lowered Fast Pay's all-time OSS record, which was set in 2009, by one-fifth of a second.
Sent postward as the heavy 1-5 favourite after winning back-to-back conditioning races in sub-1:50 fashion, Warrawee Needy paid $2.40 to win in his return to the OSS ranks.
"It's been awful really," said trainer Carl Jamieson of the colt's sophomore campaign leading up to the final. "He's had a few problems; sickness problems and a few things that came on during the year. He's just getting better now. The fall weather is helping him for the allergies and stuff. He's right on top of his game again. But he's got the Breeders Crown and another Gold so he can make lots of money yet."
Warrawee Needy, last year's Super Final champion, had gone winless until September, but managed a close second-place finish in the Aug. 4 Gold Final at Mohawk behind divisional leader Michaels Power.
"I think I lost hope in him in Ottawa [Aug. 26 Gold Final finishing sixth]," admitted Jody Jamieson in a post-race interview. "I think I even told Dad that I quit if he can find someone to replace me because I couldn't get along with him; nothing I did was working. He was just having a bad go. It was just a lot of bad luck; things were happening and not the right things. A lot of good things happened tonight; we had a lot of luck. Micheals Power won the Little Brown Jug, which is tremendous for us because we didn't have to try to beat him today so congratulations to them, but we're just happy to get in here and get a Gold Final under our belt."
The E Dees Cam-Great Memories colt is owned by his Rockwood, Ont. conditioner, Thomas Kyron of Toronto, Dr. Michael Wilson of Rockwood, Ont. and Floyd Marshall of Jarvis, Ont.
While the sophomores didn't require an elimination round for their fourth Gold Series event of the season, the OSS two-year-old pacing colts and geldings did.
Driven by Doug McNair, Up Up And Out pulled off a 10-1 upset in the first of two $40,000 eliminations over reigning Gold champion Windsong Jack (Scott Zeron) and divisional point leader Mach Pride (Anthony MacDonald). Bad Boy Hill (Randy Waples) and OK Fantastic (Paul MacDonell) finished fourth and fifth, respectively.
Windsong Jack blasted off the gate from post eight and put up a :27.2 opening quarter before Mach Pride pulled the pocket at the three-eighths mark and swept to the front. Southwind Terror (Sylvain Filion) follow that move, but make a costly break in stride while trying to challenge for the lead past the :55.4 half-mile mark and caused some chaos amidst the backfield.
Mach Pride led the field past the three-quarters mark in 1:24.2 while Bad Boy Hill moved first up with Adversary Seelster (Joe Hudon Jr.) and Up Up And Out following after overcoming interference caused by the breaker.
McNair sent Up Up And Out wide around the final turn and the Erv Miller trainee kicked home in :27.2 to a seven length triumph in 1:53 flat, paying $23.10 to win.
"I didn't know what was going to shake down there," said McNair referring to the breaking colt. "He made a break and it looked like he was locked on the right line. For a minute there it didn't look like it was going to be too good so we just took the wide route and it worked out."
The Jeremes Jet-Mellow Out colt earned his first OSS victory and third win of the season in 10 starts for the Ervin Miller Stable Inc. of Debary, Florida and Roger Hammer of Bedford, Pennsylvania.
McNair noted after the race that an equipment change in adding blinkers seemed to help Up Up And Out.
"He was more relaxed," said McNair. "They've had trouble with his gait this year, but they've done a great job from last week to this week. He's a lot better gaited and did everything right. Hopefully, he keeps getting better for the year-end races."
In the second elimination, driver Jody Jamieson sent Mach It So from last to first down the stretch for a 12-1 upset. Mach Set Go (Sylvain Filion) finished second and favourite Tarpon Hanover (Scott Zeron) was third. Slight Touch (Randy Waples) and Glammit (Mike Saftic) finished fourth and fifth, respectively.
Slight Touch took the lead off the gate from post two while Champagne Phil (Doug McNair) fired across the track from post seven into the pocket spot ahead of Glammit. Slight Touch led the way to the opening quarter in :27.1, half in :55.4 and three-quarters in 1:24.2 before coming under attack.
Tarpon Hanover was flushed first up at the half with Cocomara (Yannick Gingras) picking up his cover and Mach Set Go and Mach It So also in the outer flow. Around the final turn, Mach Set Go fanned three-wide with the trailer going even wider and circling the field to win in 1:52.3 by over one length. Mach It So returned $27 to his backers.
"It was the first time I drove him," noted Jamieson after the victory. "I talked to Scott Zeron [who drove him in his prior starts] just before I went to the gate to make sure he had no quirks behind the gate and he said he was cool. I got to follow a good helmet, Sylvain's colt is a good colt. Scotty's colt has had a long year. Yannick got in the middle of us there, but it didn't matter. This colt was within striking distance at the head of the stretch and just exploded by them. I said I think that he might be a really nice colt and it would be a shame not to make the Super Final."
The Mach Three-Beach Dancer gelding was making just his third career start and first in the OSS program. He is trained by Richard 'Nifty' Norman for Bamond Racing LLC of Brick, New Jersey.
"There's obviously issues with him; he's taken this long to mature into a good little racehorse. He's not a big guy, but he sure does have a big heart," added Jamieson. "The sky's the limit with him. But the only other problem is [2013] maybe limited in the sires stakes, but anyways we'll see what happens."
Here is a look at how the field of freshmen will line up for their $130,000 Gold Final next week:
1. Mach Set Go
2. Glammit
3. Windsong Jack
4. Tarpon Hanover
5. Bad Boy Hill
6. Ok Fantastic
7. Up Up And Out
8. Mach It So
9. Mach Pride
10. Slight Touch
AE1. Champagne Phil
For racing coverage of tonight's $384,000 Milton Stakes for older pacing mares, click here.
To view Saturday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Saturday Results - Mohawk Racetrack.