Grand River Raceway wrapped up its 14th live harness racing season on Sept. 27.
On A Sunny Day trotted to a new track record of 1:56 in the final race of the card, an Ontario Sires Stakes Gold Series event. The sophomore filly overtook Delcrest Magicstar in the stretch to record her fifth win.
The clocking replaces the record set by Sugar Wheeler in 2012 and matched by Angies Lucky Star in 2013.
On A Sunny Day was driven by Sylvain Filion for trainer/breeder Luc Blais. She is owned by Determination of Montreal, QC and has earned $250,286 in 10 starts this season.
Earlier in the night, the track honoured top performers Bob McClure and Richard Moreau. This is McClure’s third consecutive driving title at the Elora track.
His 2017 season includes titles at Grand River, Flamboro Downs, Georgian Downs and Western fair.
The 27-year-old Elora resident finished the Grand River Raceway season with 63 wins, including his first-ever Battle Of The Belles victory with Play The Bell on Aug. 7 for trainer Casie Coleman.
He currently sits atop the national standings at 381 season wins and $2.1 million in purse earnings.
Richard Moreau of Puslinch has won the Grand River training title three of the past four years.
He is the current top money-winning and top dash trainer in the nation, and has won the O’Brien Award for Canada’s Top Trainer for the past four consecutive years.
Eighteen of his 75 starters at Grand River Raceway reached the winner’s circle in 2017 for earnings of $117,958. Moreau is a career winner of 5,233 races and $48 million in purses.
Race 7 was dedicated to the track’s general manager, Dr. Ted Clarke, who retires at the end of this week.
In an interview following the dash, Clarke thanked the fans of horse racing for their support of the industry.
