Osceola (Muscle Mass), a 2023 Breeders Crown and Hambletonian finalist, won his first harness race of the season on Friday, April 26, at Woodbine Mohawk Park in the third leg of the Canadian-sired Graduate Series.
Sitting third out of five, the stallion completed two laps around the racetrack using the panels that leader Hasty Bid (James MacDonald) had provided. Down the stretch, Osceola delivered the best late kick and surged past Hasty Bid and Passarino (Sylvain Filion) to win 1:54.3. Hasty Bid lost to Ghostly Casper (Tyler Borth) in the half-length passarino, which came in second.
After finishing in last place in the previous leg of the four-year-old trotters series, Osceola's victory came in his second appearance of the year. The four-year-old, trained by Gregg McNair, took home two Ontario Sires Stakes Golds and the Ontario SBOA Stakes last year. Osceola has now won seven of her 27 career starts, bringing in $457,830 for her owners, Paul Hawman of Collingwood, Willow Oak Ranch of Rogersville, and McNair.
Turning the corner, Powder Play (Sportswriter), the Canadian-sired Graduate, took the lead and never looked back. The field went single-file, and Jody Jamieson scored her at :27.3,:57.3, and 1:25.4 sectors. Powder Play persevered to the finish line, winning in 1:52.2. Trevor Henry's Mist Amber moved slowly and eventually overtook Ima Doll (Borth) to claim second place.
The victorious mare finished first in the opening leg and won the second. She has raced mostly at the conditioned level throughout her career, however, she did win the Ontario Sires Stakes Grassroots and Prospect Series legs aged three. The mare trained by Meg Crone has a lifetime earnings of $171,005 and is 12-for-40. The owner of the four-year-old is Robert Woodburn.
On April 27, the open pacers competed in their last qualifying round of the Canadian-sired Graduate Series. On May 4, there will be $75,000A finals for each of the three divisions.
On Saturday, April 27, Woodbine Mohawk Park will conclude its racing week with a jam-packed 12-race schedule. The schedule includes a $32,000 Preferred-2, the third leg of the Canadian-sired Graduate for pacers, and the four finals of the Ontario-sired Spring Series. It will start with the first race at 7:10 p.m. EDT.