Odds On Racing - Harness Racing

Upsetter Majestic Son Takes Trotting Classic

Majestic Son (Woodbine Entertainment Group)

             Majestic Son & Trevor Ritchie

September 23, 2006

Majestic Son and driver Trevor Ritchie captured the $1-million event for three-year-olds, the Trotting Classic at Mohawk Raceway Saturday night. Majestic Son (Angus Hall – Celtic Contessa) was sent off as the 5-1 third choice, and then posted a wire-to-wire effort, cruising through panels of :28, :56.1 and 1:23.4. A final quarter in :28.3 helped the Mark Steacy-trainee to a 1:52.2 stakes and track record performance.

Glidemaster (John Campbell), who was mired in traffic for most of the mile, finished six and three-quarter lengths back in second while Berto Primo (Bill O'Donnell) wound up nine lengths back in third. Chocolatier, the 6-5 favorite, made a late break for D. R. Ackerman.

Majestic Son became harness racing's newest millionaire with the $500,000 first place prize. The trotter, who is 15-of-27 lifetime, now sports lifetime earnings in excess of $1.4-million. It was the second Canadian Trotting Classic win for Ritchie, who guided Hambletonian winner Yankee Paco to victory in 2000. It was the first Canadian Trotting Classic title for trainer Mark Steacy and the Majestic Son Stable of Lansdowne, ON.

"It's a great feeling, a great race to win," said Ritchie. "I only knew it was over when I crossed the finish line. He got nice fractions. I'm very confident with this horse. He can go a long way and he proved it again tonight. He hadn't raced in a couple of weeks last week (when finishing third to Chocolatier and Glidemaster in the elimination)."

It was the second big win for Ritchie in the last two weeks, after taking the $918,500 Maple Leaf Trot, also in an upset, in a similar romp, with Peaceful Way, on September 9 at Mohawk.

"It didn't help us any - the race didn't really break ideally for us," said driver John Campbell, about Glidemaster. "But take nothing away from the winner. He was very strong and we really couldn't make up any ground on him through the stretch. Glidemaster gives you a good effort every time. He's a pleasure to drive."

"Most definitely this is my biggest win," Steacey noted. "It's not every day you get to go for a million dollars. I won a big one (the Oakville Stakes) last year with Arlanda Hanover, but this beats them all. There was no real game plan. As far as the driving and the trip, that was left up to Trevor. He knows the horse. Fortunately, everything turned out great. He was very impressive last year, He had a few bumps in the road but he showed big- time speed. When it came time to make some stakes payments in February, we thought the Trotting Classic was the biggest and we thought we had a real chance. I was really surprised that he got to the front before the first turn. But when he did, this horse is very hard to beat when he gets there (the front) because he's got a big kick."

$1 Million Trotting Classic
Mohawk Raceway Saturday, September 23, 2006
PP Horse                      Driver
9 Majestic Son                T. Ritchie
7 Glidemaster                 J. Campbell
5 Berto Primo                W. O’Donnell
2 Was It A Dream            P. MacDonell
4 Blue Mac Lad                T Smdshmmr
10 Global Glide                R. Pierce
8 RC Royalty                   D. Daley
3 Bacardi Lindy                D. Dube
1 Chocolatier                  DR Ackerman
6 Instant Photo                R. Mayotte
:28      :56.1      1:23.4      1:52.2