Simpson Stakes Contested At Philly | Standardbred Canada standardbredcanada.ca - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from standardbredcanada.ca Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Ontario’s world-class three-year-old pacing colts waged a pair of $99,800 Gold Series battles at Georgian Downs on Sunday (July 25) and it was Second Bruiser and Desperate Man who emerged victorious from the fray.
Favourite Second Bruiser did the bulk of the work on the front in the first division, leading the field through fractions of :27.4, :55.3 and 1:22.4 before pulling away to a 2-3/4-length win in a personal best 1:50.2. Century Heineken finished second and Bettor Of The West was third.
“He’s just a good horse, he’s been good since he come back this year and I wanted to drive him like I thought he was the best, because I thought he was the best,” said driver James MacDonald. “I pushed him a little bit, but he felt like if someone had come to him he’d have given me a little more too. He’s a tough horse, he’s just a good horse.”
Young Talent On Display In Philly | Standardbred Canada standardbredcanada.ca - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from standardbredcanada.ca Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
With many sire stakes programs yet to commence and little on the Grand Circuit schedule for three-year-old pacers during the month of May, Yonkers Raceway attracted four divisions of the W.N. Reynolds Series for sophomores on the pace.
Carded as races four through seven on the Friday 10-race program, the Reynolds are split evenly, with two races for fillies and a pair for colts and geldings.
There is no shortage of talent among the 30 entered, but the two splits for the boys came up especially deep. Perhaps at the top of the heap off 2020 performance is American Courage. The Travis Alexander trainee won seven of eight starts in his rookie year of racing and returns to the races off a strong second-place finish in a qualifier at The Downs at Pocono. He sat third in that mile, before moving into second on the final turn and sprinting home in :27.1.