Saturday May 16th, 2009 would provide a surprisingly fantastic finish to the 54th edition of the Marine Stakes at Woodbine Racetrack. Trainer John Ross' three-year-old colt Awesome Rhythm would wow the crowd with a strong stretch drive that would see him win the $150,000 event by two and one-quarter lengths, over Graham Motion's ship in Colonel Rutledge, in a time of 1:45.25.
It was a filthy day at the Toronto oval with gusting winds and periods of rain, but that didn't take much away from a race that appeared to be rather average in stock on paper. Awesome Rhythm, owned by Domenic Truimbari, would pick up his second win in two starts at Woodbine this season. The son of Toccet, would begin the mile and one-sixteenth race at the back of the pack, while Bear's Prospector would dictate the pace, taking a lead from His Greatness around the first turn, setting the quarter in :25.0. Along the backstretch Awesome Rhythm and rider Jim McAleney would sit back and wait to make a move, back roughly three and a half lengths at the half-mile. Around the second turn four horses would vie for the lead, only to be joined by McAleney and Awesome Rhythm, at the top of the stretch, who were out five wide. His Greatness would take a brief lead, while the other ship in Colonel Rutledge would come on between horses at the eighth pole and Awesome Rhythm would be right there driving hard to take the lead away and by the sixteenth pole the young colt would have a widening lead that would ultimately bring him to the wire by two and one-quarter lengths. The southern invaders Colonel Rutledge and His Greatness would finish second and third respectively.
Jim McAleney would later speak about the trip "Well, the first quarter unfolded just as I expected, which was exactly what I didn't want, it was slow. But the second quarter we picked it up almost a full second, I believe, and that helped the race evolve. I didn't want to move when I did, I would've rather stayed in and saved some ground on the last turn, but, I couldn't tell exactly how much horse Jono had down on the inside and what type of a turn of foot he had. I knew I would never get through so I didn't want Jono to squeak away from me at the head of the stretch and that I would be in contention of grabbing him. So, I dipped this horse out and he just gave me all the confidence in the world both in his last race and the way he was in post parade. I knew that I had the horse to give up the ground and get the job done, it wasn't my preference, but I didn't mind doing it either.
Click here for the final results to the 54th running of the Marine Stakes: http://www.equibase.com/static/chart/pdf/WO051609CAN6.pdf
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