Sunday’s Grassroots event at Clinton Raceway will be the third provincial start of the season for many of the sophomore trotting fillies

. For Warrawee Lassie, however, the Clinton event marks the start of her three-year-old campaign, and trainer Frank O’Reilly is hoping it serves as a stepping stone back to the upper echelons of the Ontario Sires Stakes program.

“She’s had a number of small issues, she’s been a real problem child,” says O’Reilly, who conditions Warrawee Lassie for his partners Seelster Farms Inc. of Lucan, ON, Dr. Michael Wilson of Rockwood, ON and Matthew Harrison of Walden, New York.

A Gold elimination winner at two, Warrawee Lassie struggled to qualify this spring as she battled a number of minor issues, culminating in a mid-June diagnosis of a cyst on one of her ovaries. Once the cyst had been removed, O’Reilly sent the Kadabra daughter back to the qualifying ranks, where she delivered a strong 2:00.2 victory over the Mohawk Racetrack oval.

“She qualified pretty good,” says O’Reilly of the June 29 effort. “That was a good mile.”

The trainer is hoping the filly is poised to regain the form that saw her win three races, clock a record of 1:58.3 and earn $72,400 as a two-year-old. Those spoils were enjoyed by O’Reilly and Wilson, but Seelster Farms and Harrison purchased their shares of Warrawee Lassie in January and the horseman admits there has not been much in the way of gratification for the new owners thus far.

“Last fall the Fielding’s [John and Jim] wanted to sell her, so the Seelster girls jumped up to the plate. They wanted to take a shot at racing her,” explains O’Reilly, adding that the filly will eventually join the broodmare ranks at the Seelster Farms nursery. “There’s been nothing to laugh about so far, but she was a great purchase for them. They’re going to make nothing but money with her.”

Monkton resident Ross Battin will steer Warrawee Lassie in her sophomore debut, starting from Post 5 in the seventh $24,000 division. With her peers — including freshman Gold Final winner Wilsonator from Post 7 — heading into the race with far more seasoning, O’Reilly’s expectations for the filly are modest.

“I just want her to get around, behave, and get things done,” says the Orton, ON resident, who will also harness two of Warrawee Lassie’s stablemates in the Sunday afternoon event.

Excellence will kick things off for the O’Reilly stable, parading onto the Clinton oval from Post 2 in the second race. The Kadabra daughter has one win and one second to her credit through the first two Grassroots events of the season, and her trainer expects consistency to be the filly’s hallmark through the remainder of the season.

“She’s a good 'B event' horse, a very good 'B event' horse,” says the horseman. “She’s going to be productive.”

Michael Whelan will steer Excellence in Sunday’s contest for owners Chris Storms of Picton, ON, Jim Fielding of Toronto, ON, and Dr. Ruth Irving and Mary Anne Lauzon of Russell, ON.

Whelan will also steer the third contestant from the O’Reilly barn, Mo Java, who landed Post 5 in the 10th race for her fourth trip of the season around the Clinton oval. A 2:03.1 winner in the first leg of the track’s Central Huron Pacing Series May 30, Mo Java finished seventh in the June 20 final, but O’Reilly says the Mr Lavec daughter delivered a gutsy effort from the outside Post 7.

“She went a real good trip, she was only beat three lengths,” notes O’Reilly, who shares ownership of Mo Java with Osprey Stable of Caledon East, ON.

In addition to eight Grassroots divisions for the three-year-old trotting fillies, Clinton Raceway’s July 4 program also features the $57,400 Kin Pace Final and 40th Anniversary celebrations with the local Kinsmen and Kinettes.

Post time for the Sunday matinee is 1:30 p.m., with the Grassroots divisions slated for Races 1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 10, 11 and 13, and the Kin Pace Final set for Race 12.

To view Sunday's entries, click here.

(OSS)