Woodbine Mohawk Park hosted a 10-race harness card on Saturday night, August 3, with the highlight being the $36,000 Preferred Pace in the ninth race.
The 17-1 longshot, The Greek Freak (Tyler Jones), grabbed the early lead, setting a brisk first quarter in 26.4 seconds. Whichwaytothebeach (Sylvain Filion) briefly took the pocket but soon moved to the front, with Taurasi (Doug McNair) following. The leaders set middle fractions of 53.2 and 1:20.3. Taurasi, working hard while stuck two-wide, briefly took the lead but couldn't sustain it. As the field approached the stretch, Redwood Hanover (Jonathan Drury) seized the lead, only to be overtaken by Write Me A Rose, who stormed to victory with a final quarter in 26.2 seconds, a full second faster than Redwood Hanover.
Write Me A Rose won in 1:48.0, marking his seventh victory of 2024 and the 13th of his career, improving his previous best by a full second. The four-year-old gelding has been in impressive form, winning two of his last three races and finishing in the money in his last seven starts. Trained by Robert Fellows, this was his only win on the night, bringing his training tally to 82 wins for the year and earnings of over $1.2 million.
Driver Travis Cullen, making his debut behind Write Me A Rose, secured his only win of the evening. Cullen has now surpassed $2 million in earnings for the third consecutive year.
Racing at Woodbine Mohawk Park will continue on Monday, August 5, featuring another 10-race card, including a pair of $150,000 Mid-season Ontario Sires Stakes for two-year-old trotters.