Harrow, Ont. resident Larry Pollard is escorting two very special two-year-olds to Windsor Raceway on Sun
day.
Two-year-old pacing filly Addison Bay will make her second Grassroots start from Post 4 in the third $24,000 division, and Pollard’s two-year-old granddaughter, Addison, will be on hand to watch her namesake compete.
"She’s named after my granddaughter," Pollard said about his homebred filly. "And she will be there Sunday night. She’s just a little over two, but she knows the horses."
Addison Bay heads into Sunday’s test off a gritty victory at Dresden Raceway last weekend, and Pollard is hoping the daughter of Camluck--Mattersalls brings the same fighting spirit to her second Grassroots start.
"She had a tough race last week in Dresden," the owner noted. "She was first up, parked from the half, but she got the job done."
Pollard says Addison Bay has been a late bloomer, overshadowed through the first half of the season by stablemate Cams Cupid, who is a half-sister to $1.2 million winner Chancey Lady.
"The one that really caught my eye was Cams Cupid, which is the sister to Chancey Lady," admitted Pollard, who added that Cams Cupid has already been retired from the freshman racing wars. "Addison came along slow, she’s matured now."
Trained by Essex, Ont. resident Rodney Duford, Addison Bay made her debut in a June 20 qualifier at Hiawatha Horse Park where she finished fourth. The filly qualified a second time at Hiawatha, pacing her way to a third-place finish, just one length behind the winner, on July 2. Seven days later, Duford sent her out in a freshman event at Hiawatha, where she finished a closing third.
Addison Bay scored her first victory in her second lifetime start, touring the Hiawatha oval on the front end in 1:58. Off that effort, Duford gave the filly a shot at the Gold Series level, where she finished eighth in her elimination. Revising his strategy, Duford sent the filly to Woodstock Raceway for the August 22 Grassroots contest, and Addison Bay finished a solid second to Lyons Anitacol. On September 10 the filly finished eighth in an overnight at Mohawk, and then headed south for her September 27 victory at Dresden.
The sister to $216,870 winner Along Came Polly and $104,452 winner Captain Koda, Pollard says Addison Bay bears no resemblance to her successful siblings.
"The others are all tough, they were tough to race. Getting them to the gate and everything was just tough," he explained. "Addie’s Bay has done everything right since Day 1. She’s a good filly."
Jason Brewer will steer the tractable youngster from Post 4 in Windsor Raceway’s fourth race on Sunday.
The two-year-old pacing fillies are featured in Races 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, and 9 on Sunday’s program, which gets underway at 7:00 p.m.
To view the harness racing entries for Windsor's Sunday program, click here.
(OSS)