A two-hole trip proved to be
just enough of an edge for I Wont Dance to
extend his winning streak to three-in-a-row
on Monday evening at Mohawk Racetrack in the
$130,000 OSS Gold Series final.
Unraced as a rookie, but
making up for lost time, the three-year-old
son of Angus Hall � Do Si Do Hanover rallied
in the lane and posted a career-best
clocking of 1:55.4 for driver Trevor Ritchie
and trainer Per Henriksen.
Ritchie and
I Wont Dance enjoyed the two-hole ride
behind 2-1 favourite Zero Boundaries, who
chopped out very sensible splits of :28 and
:58.1 before feeling any kind of pressure.
Senator Hall made a bold first-over brush
around the final turn, and he actually
showed a short lead over Zero Boundaries at
the three-quarter pole in 1:27.
Despite being headed Zero
Boundaries battled back for the lead once
the field entered the stretch, but he
couldn�t fend off the late rush from I Wont
Dance. The gelding angled out of the pocket
in deep stretch and used a :28.1 closing
kick to propel himself to the win by
three-quarters of a length over Zero
Boundaries. Taking home the show dough was
Hitithard.
�I was following Paul [MacDonell
driving Zero Boundaries] and I thought he
was the horse to follow, and then when that
other horse [Senator Hall and driver D.R.
Ackerman] come I was caught in and I was
hoping things would spring through the lane
and I got lucky and they did,� said driver
Trevor Ritchie. �I really didn�t have a
plan, I just wanted to get him out of there
and get him situated. If I had to cut it,
that was fine because he raced well last
week up front. But I was just as happy to
follow Paul because Paul�s horse is a pretty
good horse.�
�At this point this colt
has done everything asked of him,� Ritchie
added. �He certainly wasn�t tired tonight at
the wire. Obviously if he�s going to go with
the bigger boys he�s going to have to step
it up some more. The way he felt tonight it
wasn�t the end of him, I can tell you that
much.�
Maurizio Biasuzzi [M
Biasuzzi Stable Inc.] of Ft. Pierce, FL
holds the papers on the lightly-raced
youngster, who has banked $93,500 to date.
Georgian Downs will play
host to the next OSS Gold Series event of
the season. Eliminations are scheduled for
July 4, with the final one week later on
July 11