Gold to Doonbeg, Majestic

Mohawk Racetrack officials gave a nod to Majestic Son’s dominance on Friday evening by declining to offer show wagering in the 3-year-old trotting colt Gold final and the division leader responded with another effortless Ontario Sires Stakes record performance.

Was It A Dream, Colonel Talbot and Yorktown Gunner fired off the starting gate in the sophomore trotting colt Gold Final and Was It A Dream won the early foot race to post a :27.2 opening quarter. With regular reinsman Trevor Ritchie in the race bike, Majestic Son floated away from post four and was sitting on the outside in fifth as the leaders ticked off the sharp fraction on the Mohawk teletimer.

Heading for the :55.4 half, Ritchie sent Majestic Son to the front and then eased the tempo en route to a 1:25.2 three-quarters. The Angus Hall son picked things up again heading down the stretch and hit the wire 2-3/4 lengths on top in 1:54.3 to equal the Ontario Sires Stakes record set by Rotation in 2002.

“He’s almost the perfect horse to drive,” said Ritchie before the race. “You can almost drive him any way you want.”

Ritchie has driven Majestic Son to 12 wins and two thirds in 16 starts this season and clocked three Ontario Sires Stakes records in the process. The pair set the 3-year-old trotting colt record for a half-mile oval with a 1:55 performance at Flamboro Downs in the Aug. 20 Gold Final and lowered the sophomore trotting colt record on a five-eighths-mile track to 1:54.4 in a Gold Elimination at Georgian Downs on Aug. 26.

Friday’s triumph pushed the trotter’s sophomore earnings to $945,736 for the Majestic Son Stable of Lansdowne and trainer Mark Steacy.

Investor earned the runner-up share in Majestic Son’s third straight Gold final winning performance and last week’s elimination winner Swan Image rounded out the top three.

3-year-old pacing colt Doonbeg earned his second straight Gold final title with a classic come-from-behind effort in the eighth race.

In their trademark style, Doonbeg and driver Jody Jamieson floated off the gate into sixth as Little Brown Jug winner Mr Feelgood rocked to a :27 opening quarter. As Mr Feelgood powered to a :55.4 half, Jamieson sent Doonbeg up the outside behind elimination winner Stormaway.

With Stormaway and Doonbeg stalking up the outside, Mr Feelgood and driver Mark MacDonald maintained their sharp pace to the 1:23.3 third quarter and were 1-1/2 lengths on top as the field straightened out for home. However, when Jamieson shifted Doonbeg into superdrive, the diminutive Camluck colt rocketed by the pacesetter to a half length victory in 1:51.

Mr Feelgood settled for second and pocketsitter Eagle Luck paced into third, three-quarters of a length behind the winner.

The win marked Doonbeg’s third appearance in a Gold Final winner’s circle ceremony and his seventh victory of the season. Trained by James Dean for Clay Harland Horner and Scott Horner of Toronto and Torlando Farms Inc. of Orlando, Florida, Doonbeg sports a record of seven wins, four seconds and two thirds in 15 starts. (OSS)

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