Campbellville, ON --- Favorites Love Canal and L Dees Lioness emerged victorious in a pair of C$30,000 second round divisions of the Whenuwishuponastar Pacing Series for 2-year-old fillies on Monday night (July 23) at Mohawk.
In the first dash, Love Canal, who was fresh off an OSS Gold Series final victory, found the winner’s circle once again for trainer Tony O’Sullivan and driver Jody Jamieson.
Leaving from post five in a field that was scratched down to five, the 1-9 favorite Love Canal got away last. The pacing miss followed behind splits of :28, clocked by Social Scene (Scott Zeron), and :56.4 and 1:26, put up by Breathtakingbeauty (Randy Waples), before making a bid for the lead into the final turn.
Love Canal flushed out Hilarious Hayley (Sylvain Filion) from third before they hit the straightaway, which caused Jamieson to angle his charge three-wide into the stretch. Love Canal used a :27.1 final frame to get under the wire first in 1:54. Breathtakingbeauty finished second by one length and Social Scene captured the show dough.
“With a filly like Love Canal, she is just so pushbutton,” said Jamieson following the triumph. “She has been so impressive that I wasn’t really worried with how slow or fast they went.
“I didn’t figure I was going to be any more than five lengths out of it at the three-quarter pole,” continued the reinsman. “She has made up those kinds of lengths every start of her life or both starts, I guess, now. But tonight, same thing, she just picked them all up and did what she had to do.”
The homebred daughter of Badlands Hanover-A Votre Pante is now a perfect three-for-three in her young racing career for owners Let It Ride Stables Inc., Robert Cooper Stables LLC and J And T Silva Stables LLC. With the win, the pacing miss lifted her lifetime earnings to C$100,000. Love Canal paid $2.10 to win.
In the second division, L Dees Lioness went gate-to-wire to score her first lifetime victory for trainer Casie Coleman.
With driver Scott Zeron in the sulky, the 3-5 favorite put up fractions of :27.3, :57.1 and 1:25.4, before stopping the clock in 1:53.2. I Luv The Nitelife (Jody Jamieson) and Mattie Terror Girl (Sylvain Filion) finished second and third, respectively.
“She is one of my favorite fillies that Casie (trainer Coleman) has right now so I expected her to come home like that,” said Zeron from the winner’s circle. “There are some great fillies coming in here. I don’t underestimate any of them, but I know what mine is capable of.”
The homebred daughter of Somebeachsomewhere-L Dees Val has a record of 1-1-1 in three lifetime starts. With the lion’s share of the purse, the bay increased her earnings to C$21,900 for owners Lawrence Dumain and Carlo Lattinelli. L Dees Lioness paid $3.40 to win.
The C$50,000 Whenuwishuponastar final is scheduled for Thursday (August 2).