Pair of Favourites, Pair of Upsets in Armbro Flight, Goodtimes Eliminations

MILTON, June 7, 2025— The two eliminations for the Armbro Flight and Goodtimes, delayed by a day due to poor air quality from the Canadian wildfires, turned into an appetizing prelude for Saturday’s Pepsi North America Cup eliminations with a set of chalks delivering and a set of longshots surprising.

Even-money favourite Dial Square S zipped off the pegs, waited on a helmet and lunged forward in the stretch to open the afternoon session with a win in the first Armbro Flight elimination, timed in 1:51.1.

Trainer-driver Ake Svanstedt settled the 5-year-old daughter of Ready Cash into fourth out of post 5 as 40-1 shot Golden Rain S strutted to the top through a :26 first quarter. Svanstedt waited until just after a :55.1 half to edge off the cones, and he managed to catch cover midway around the last turn from pocket-popping M Ms Dream. Golden Rain S clung to a diminishing lead by three-quarters in 1:23.4 before caving to pressure in the lane. Dial Square S vaulted off the helmet of late-leader M Ms Dream mid-stretch to grab the lead and then held firm from a last-to-first rally by Emoji Hanover to win by three-quarter lengths in a lifetime-best mile. M Ms Dream settled for third with Nelsonbriteagle NO fourth and Golden Rain S well back in fifth.

“She was much better than last time,” Ake Svanstedt said after the race. “Last time [in the Miss Versatility at The Meadowlands] she was pulling so hard. We made some changes and today she was nice to drive.”

An import from Sweden for owners Stall Arsenal AB and Ake Svanstedt Inc., Dial Square S kept her unbeaten record in North America with her second win stateside. She’s won four races from 15 starts and has now earned $244,242. Before coming to the states, she had just two wins on her resume but around $200,000 banked through her Swedish campaign.

“She was maybe top five in Sweden in the stakes races when she was 3 and 4,” Svanstedt said. “She was a really good horse. She didn’t win any races last year, but she raced good.”

Dial Square S paid $4.20 to win.

Willys Home Run hugged the pylons through most of the mile and barreled through traffic to snag a lifetime-best 1:51.1 victory at odds of 29-1 in the second Armbro Flight elimination.

Driver James MacDonald floated away sixth to a :26.2 first quarter carved by longshot Legacy Affair, who later relinquished control to pocket-popper Call Me Goo on the march to a :55.1 half. Bravo Angel S tipped first over out of third – carrying Drawn Impression and Elista Hanover on the rim – while Willys Home Run stayed steady third on the inside to three-quarters in 1:24. MacDonald angled to the two path spinning for home and found a split mid-stretch to dart through and lay aim on weary leader Call Me Goo, as well as rallying Drawn Impression to the center of the track. Drawn Impression took the lead in the closing stages, but Willys Home Run surged with just enough momentum to put a nose in front on the beam. Call Me Goo, the defending Armbro Flight champion, finished third with Elista Hanover fourth and Bravo Angel S rounding the finalists.

“She’d just been kind of struggling and I’ve given her some bad trips too,” James MacDonald said after the race, “but she’s always been able to sprint fast and today I was able to drive her conservatively. When she saw daylight, she just launched. I was just as surprised as you, not that she had a performance like that in her – but her form just hadn’t been quite like how she’d been. Good to see her bounce back.”

A 4-year-old daughter of Archangel trained by Kyle Fellows, Willys Home Run won her 11^th race from 28 starts and has accrued $980,516 for owners Dr. Sara Gatchell, Jake Higgs, Reg Higgs and N. Yolanda Fellows. She paid $60.40 to win.

Longshot Galen Erso swept his peers from their feet with a pillar-to-post 1:53 lifetime-best win in the first Goodtimes elimination. Driver Doug McNair plugged out of post 3 to seize the lead to a :27.2 first quarter and cooled on the engine up the backstretch to a :57 half. As half the field tipped off the pylons to the final turn, McNair slammed the pedal to clock three-quarters in 1:24.4 and braved the swarming herd late to hold onto the win by a length. Landing On Time, the 3-5 favorite, kicked from third over for second while LMC Wagon Wheel blasted from near last for third. P L Spencer and Gap Kronos S took the remaining berths, finishing fourth and fifth respectively.

“They kind of got away from him in a hurry, [I mean] he won the SBOA final with a tough trip,” Doug McNair said after the race. “Last week, the guys in front of us were going absolutely nowhere and he’s not the type of horse you can jam up the whole way and expect him to sprint home in :26. I was expecting him to win, but I wasn’t expecting him to be 30-1. I thought he did okay with these horses.

On his upset in the Goodtimes elimination, McNair said “He was a little aggressive getting out of there – this was the first time he’s had the closed bridle on him this year. I figured one of the favourites, either Ake [driving Gap Kronos S] or James [driving Landing On Time], would’ve covered him up but they left him alone. I let him buzz the third quarter and he did the rest from there.”

Gregg McNair trains Galen Erso, a sophomore colt by Green Manalishi S, for owner Brad Grant. The colt collected his fifth win from 11 starts and has now banked $291,604 in earnings. He returned $61.60 to win.

Heavy favourite Emoticon Legacy emerged victorious in his sophomore foray with a lifetime-best 1:52.1 victory in the second Goodtimes elimination. Planted into fourth by driver Louis-Philippe Roy, Emoticon Legacy sat behind a shuffle on the lead through early fractions of :28 and :56.3 before entering a first-over attack in the final turn. Roy caught brief cover from a late-pulling Fadeaway Hanover reaching for three-quarters in 1:24.4 before unleashing Emoticon Legacy three wide for the stretch drive. Emoticon Legacy grabbed the lead in the lane while Roy kept him to task to win by 1-3/4 lengths over a game Eugene The Genius in second. Fadeaway Hanover held third with Blank snatching fourth and Wildturkey Hanover taking fifth.

“I didn’t have much of a plan, but I was pretty confident in my horse,” Roy said after the race. “I just played it the way it was going to go and I was happy with the effort. All of Luc [Blais]’s horses – his ‘A’ team – have all been coming back good this year. They’re all tight and ready to go, so I was confident with both this afternoon.

“Last year he actually changed so much over the summer that it was hard for me, sitting behind him, to know what kind of horse I was going to have,” Roy also said. “He started the season really hot, and then we tried managing to keep him quiet a little more and then he almost got too quiet. Right now, he seems like a nice racehorse. He’s a little on the bit, but he’s not stupid and he’s not lazy either, so I think that’s a big change for him this year. If he stays the same start after start, it’s going to make our job way easier.”

Luc Blais trains Emoticon Legacy, a colt by Walner, for owner-breeder Determination. The colt won his fifth race from eight starts and has now banked $235,637 in earnings. He paid $2.30 to win.

The top five finishers from each elimination of the Armbro Flight and Goodtimes advance to their respective finals next scheduled for Pepsi North America Cup night next Saturday (June 14). Each elimination winner earned a protected draw between posts 2 and 6 for their respective finals. Below are the fields for next week’s Armbro Flight and Goodtimes finals:

$210,000 Armbro Flight Final

(PP-Name-Trainer)

1-M Ms Dream-Ron Burke
​2-Golden Rain S-Per Engblom
​3-Bravo Angel S-Per Engblom
​4-Call Me Goo-Ake Svanstedt
​5-Dial Square S-Ake Svanstedt
​6-Willys Home Run-Kyle Fellows
​7-Emoji Hanover-Luc Blais
​8-Drawn Impression-Luc Blais
​9-Nelsonbriteagle NO-Ake Svanstedt
​10-Elista Hanover- Annie Stoebe
​AE Chake- Per Engblom

$227,000 Goodtimes Final

(PP-Name-Trainer)

1-Fadeaway Hanover-Benoit Baillargeon
​2-Gap Kronos S-Ake Svanstedt
​3-Galen Erso-Gregg McNair
​4-Emoticon Legacy-Luc Blais
​5-P L Spencer-Stephen Bossence
​6-LMC Wagon Wheel-Benoit Baillargeon
​7-Landing On Time-Rick Zeron
​8-Wildturkey Hanover-Ron Waples Jr.
​9-Eugene The Genius-Melissa Essig
​10-Blank-Marcus Melander
​AE-Tregaron – Bob Young

By Ray Cotolo, for Woodbine Communications