Sunshine Beach 1:49 winner at Mohawk

August 09, 2014

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The best on the Woodbine Entertainment circuit took to the track on Saturday night in $34,000 Preferred action for both the pacers and trotters at Mohawk. Making his first start since July 12, Sunshine Beach went to the front and never looked back in the Preferred Pace.

A four-year-old son of Somebeachsomewhere-Light Up, Sunshine Beach and driver Chris Christoforou left from post position eight and were parked around the first turn. After clearing to the front at the start of the backstretch, Christoforou was able to control the tempo in the middle half. Off a half of :55.2, Modern Legend came first up at Sunshine Beach and Christoforou responded by kicking up the speed and posting a third-quarter of :26, putting Modern Legend and the rest of the field in his rear view mirror.

Sunshine Beach carried a comfortable lead through the stretch and cruised to a length victory in 1:49. Bestofbest Hanover finished second, while Upfront Hoosierboy was third.

Sunshine Beach is trained by Mark Steacy for the ownership group of Hudson Standrdbrd Stb Inc, Conrad Leber, Diane Bertrand and Blue Chip Bloodstock Inc. The Preferred score was the first win of the year for Sunshine Beach in his fifth start as a four-year-old. The victory was also the tenth of his career. The Mark Steacy trainee is approaching millionaire status with career earnings of more than $973,000. He paid $8.30 to win.

Sunshine Beach is eligible to the Canadian Pacing Derby on Aug. 30 at Mohawk. Eliminations are scheduled for a week earlier on Saturday, Aug. 23.

On the trotting side, Daylon Magician put his miscue a week ago behind and turned in an impressive 1:52.1 front end score in the Preferred Trot.

Trained and driven by Jack Moiseyev, Daylon Magician made a break last week and was forced to qualify before being eligible to race. Rather than skipping a week, Moiseyev elected to qualify the five-year-old on Tuesday (winning in 1:55.) and entered him right back into to this week's Preferred. The son of Kadabra – Daylon Marvel was sent after the lead at the quarter pole and cleared to the front early in the second quarter. After a pedestrian half of :57.2, Moiseyev turned up the tempo with a :27.2 third-quarter to lead the field into the stretch.

In the stretch, Whiskey Tax, who sat in the two-hole, tried to grind down Daylon Magician, but the millionaire trotter dug in to pick up his fourth win of the season by a length. Charmed Life, last week's Preferred winner, finished more than five lengths back in third, while Catch The Dream was fourth.

The 1:52.1 clocking lowered the season's record for an older trotter by a fifth of a second.

A former Canadian Trotting Classic winner, Daylong Magician is owned by Daylon Farm Ltd. of Komoka, Ontario and has career earnings of more than $1.6 million. The Preferred victory was the 22nd career visit to victory lane for Daylon Magician. He returned $8.80 to win. (WEG)

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