"Courtly Choice and driver James MacDonald stormed by rivals in the stretch for a 30-1 upset victory in Saturday’s $525,000 Canadian Pacing Derby at Woodbine Mohawk Park.
The Blake MacIntosh trained four-year-old rallied from sixth with a :25.3 final-quarter to nail heavy-favourite Lather Up at the wire for a 1:48.4 victory.
“It was amazing, I can’t even put it into words I’m so happy,” said MacDonald. “I’ve been trying to get a crack at one of these big ones in Canada and I just haven’t had a lot of luck and tonight the race set up great and the horse was just unbelievable.”
In the stretch, Lather Up embraced the straightaway and tried to pull away from rivals. Victory appeared to be within reach for Lather Up, until all eyes focused on Courtly Choice flying on the far outside, powering by rivals to reach up for a half length victory.
“I can’t even explain the feeling he was pacing so hard,” said MacDonald of Courtly Choice. “I knew I had a lot of pace, but he was just trying to get into gear, and then everyone was kind of just fanning out and I didn’t know what Lather Up would do because he always comes back on and he’s just such a great horse.
“Lather Up has just been unbeatable, and just special to watch. Even just to be on the track is an honour and then to get to beat him in front of my home crowd… it was amazing.”
A four-year-old son of Art Major, Courtly Choice picks up his fourth win in 12 outings this season and 16th of his career. Last year’s Little Brown Jug champion has now earned over $1.3 million for owners Hutt Racing Stable, Mac And Heim Stables, Daniel Plouffe and Touchstone Farms Inc.
The Canadian Pacing Derby victory is the first for driver MacDonald and trainer MacIntosh, who noted the victory ranks near the top for him personally." - From Woodbine Mohawk News
Visit woodbine.com/Mohawk for more racing information.
Follow the Woodbine TV Producers on Twitter!
/ woodbinetvprod
This is the Plan - Yannick Gingras
Done Well - Andrew McCarthy
Western Fame - Louis Philippe Roy
Jimmy Freight - Scott Zeron
Lather Up - Montrell Teague
Courtly Choice - James Macdonald
Filibuster Hanover - Tim Tetrick
Casimir Richie P - Sylvain Filion
McWicked - David Miller
Canadian Pacing Derby Final. Race 8 from Woodbine, Mohawk Park, August 31, 2019