Monday’s Ontario Sires Stakes Gold eliminations at Mohawk Racetrack will mark the last stop on the OSS circuit for a number of two-year-old trotting fillies, but trainer Jerry Duford is hoping First Flower is not one of them

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The Angus Hall miss will make her third Gold Series appearance from Post 5 in the first $40,000 elim, and the Campbellville, Ont. resident would love to see her advance to the October 18 Gold Final. With a fourth and a fifth in Gold elim action thus far, First Flower has not yet appeared in a Gold final, but she has turned in some impressive results outside the provincial program. She finished second in her division of the Champlain Stakes at Mohawk on September 2 and second in her Peaceful Way elim one week later.

Unfortunately, First Flower came up sick for the September 18 final of the Peaceful Way and finished well back in eighth, but Duford has said that the filly seems to be back on her game and is ready for Monday’s test.

“I trained her today (Thursday) and she trained pretty good, I was happy,” said the veteran horseman, who shares ownership of the filly with Joanne Wray of Campbellville, Ont. and Lloyd and Barbara Tylee of Grimsby, Ont.

First Flower caught Duford’s eye at last fall’s Lexington Selected Yearling Sale and he was able to acquire the second foal of $414,731 winner Elena for $25,000.

“I looked at a lot of them, and she was one I liked and could afford,” recalled Duford, pragmatically. “She’s a beautiful looking filly and she’s got a really good mother.”

The filly was a quick study and showed potential right from her earliest training miles. As a result her owners opted to maintain her eligibility to races like the $466,000 Peaceful Way and the $616,000 Goldsmith Maid, which is coming up at Woodbine Racetrack on October 29 and November 6. Duford has not decided whether First Flower will contest the Goldsmith Maid, it will depend on her health and how she makes out in the Gold Series on Monday.

“We just go race to race with her. If she’s all right we’ll go,” said the horseman.

“She’s pretty green yet,” he added.

Regular reinsman Jason Brewer will steer First Flower from Post 5 on Monday, and Duford said the Puslinch, Ont. resident has done an exceptionally good job teaching the filly how to race since her August 2 debut in a Gold elim at Mohawk.

“He really did a good job with her. I’m very happy with him,” said the trainer. “She was a little tricky when we first started baby racing her. It wouldn’t take much to make her make a break at times, but now she’s getting pretty good.”

In six starts, First Flower and Brewer have amassed a record of three seconds, one fourth and one fifth for earnings of $42,482. Among the fillies they will face in Monday’s first race are division point leader Peach Martini from Post 1 and reigning Gold final champion My Whispering Eye from Post 8.

The second race will feature two-time Gold elim winner Enchantment from Post 2 and Gold final runner-up Oh Sweet Baby from Post 4. The final split we see former Gold final winners Extraordinaire and Beach Party AS square off from Posts 2 and 4, respectively.

The first Gold elim will kick off Mohawk Racetrack’s Monday evening program at 7:20 p.m., and the top three finishers from each elim, plus one fourth-place finisher selected by random draw, will make their last Gold final start over the Woodbine Racetrack oval on October 18.

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(OSS)