Heritage Series concludes Friday at Woodbine

A pair of stakes, the $100,000 Ashbridges Bay, and $100,000 Lake Ontario, co-headline Friday afternoon’s card at Woodbine.

The 1 1/16-mile Tapeta events are the curtain-closers for the eight-leg stakes Heritage Series, held at Woodbine and Fort Erie racetracks.

Ontario Racing and its Thoroughbred Improvement Program (TIP) Committee unveiled the series in 2021. With a total purse structure of $800,000 this year, the Heritage Series featured a total of four races – three opening legs and one final – for both 3-year-old colts and geldings, and 3-year-old fillies who are sustained to the Ontario Sires Stakes program.

A half-dozen sophomores, including Hunt Master, will take to the main track for the Lake Ontario, slated as race eight.

Owned by Openwood Farm and trained by Angus Buntain, the 3-year-old son of Hunters Bay will contest his fourth straight stakes event.

The bay arrives at his latest test off a second-place finish, just a head back of winner Banff, in the Lake Superior Stakes.

Sent off at 10-1, Hunt Master dueled to the wire in the 7-furlong turf event, a gutsy performance that was happy for Buntain.

“That was his very first race on turf and I was a little unsure how he’d do on the grass, but obviously, it was a lifetime-best effort, especially Beyer-wise (92). It was a huge effort for him. Just the fact that he was well ahead of the rest of the group, he and Banff finished together, that’s what I liked the best. He fired on with Banff and fought right to the wire. He showed his true grit again.

Hunt Master, 2-3-2 from nine starts, worked 4 furlongs in :47-flat over the Tapeta on November 11 in preparation for the Lake Ontario.

First post time is 1:20 p.m.