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Canada’s richest card of horse racing became a showcase for Dexter Dunn. The New Zealand native won three of the five major stakes as Woodbine Mohawk Park’s Grand Circuit month came to a close on Saturday.

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Dunn capped his night with a win in the featured $1-million Mohawk Million with 4-5 favourite Maryland. The two-year-old trotter looked like he bobbled slightly at the gate but was able to keep things intact and win easily after a textbook advance from mid-pack, stopping the clock in a Canadian record 1:52 3/5.

“He was pretty aggressive tonight,” Dunn said. “He luckily kept his gait and we still got away in a good position and he exploded up the straight.”

A son of Chapter Seven, Maryland came into the race having won three times in six previous starts. Coupled with wins in the William Wellwood Memorial at Mohawk and the Peter Haughton at Hoosier Park, the Marcus Melander trainee is already over $1 million in earnings.

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Dunn scored his first stakes win of the night with a daring rail trip in the stretch while steering French Champagne in the $347,000 Elegantimage for three-year-old trotting fillies. Dunn brought the Ake Svanstedt trainee to within inches of being on the wrong side of the track but was able to stay on course and beat favoured Drawn Impression in the final step in 1:52 1/5. It was the fourth win in nine starts for the daughter of Muscle Hill, owned by Marvin Katz and Al Libfeld of the Toronto area.

Dunn, Svanstedt, Katz and Libfeld scored again in the $713,000 Canadian Trotting Classic for three-year-olds. Amazing Catch was blasted close to the lead by Dunn after starting from the outside post in the 10-horse field. In the stretch, Dunn kept him at the rail and found room late to score in 1:51 4/5 at odds of 19-1. It was the third win in 15 career starts for Amazing Catch. That race changed drastically when 3-5 favourite Highland Kismet broke stride and was taken out of the race in mid-backstretch.

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The other $1-million feature was the Metro Pace for two-year-old pacers and in this one, the patience of driver Tim Tetrick paid off.

Instead of getting into the early battle driving Fallout, he allowed 6-5 favourite Captain Optimistic and others to do the heavy lifting while Fallout sat in seventh. Having moved up to third at the top of the stretch, Tetrick gave the 8-5 second choice clear track and urged him to the lead late in the mile, setting a Canadian record-equalling mark for two-year-old pacing colts of 1:49 1/5.

“I was playing the race,” Tetrick, now a two-time winner of the Metro said. “I could see they were going to play some chess early.”
“(Fallout) just kept coming and digging and when it mattered, he got to the wire first.”

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It was the third win in eight starts for Fallout who had recently been competing in Kentucky Sires Stakes action at the Red Mile. He gave trainer Tony Alagna a record-setting fourth Metro win.

Also Saturday, fans got another chance to enjoy a future local star. Chantilly extended her record to seven wins in as many starts with a win in the $532,000 She’s A Great Lady for two-year-old pacing fillies. Driven by James Macdonald, Chantilly settled mid-pack early before making a comfortable move in the latter half to win by three lengths in 1:50 2/5. Nick Galucci trains the Ontario-sired filly for owner George Millar of Stouffville.

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