Fillies will dominate the Hanover Raceway program on Saturday night as the half-mile oval plays host to the three-year-old pacing filly Grassroots season opener.

A total of 73 fillies will square off in 10 Grassroots divisions, each worth $24,000. Among the hopefuls are two local fillies hoping to match or better the results they posted in the Ontario Sires Stakes program as freshmen.

From four Grassroots starts last season, Frown Upside Down posted one second and one fourth for provincial earnings of $7,920. The Grinfromeartoear daughter kicks off her sophomore campaign from Post 2 in the fifth Grassroots division on Saturday, and trainer Gregg McNair is hoping the filly opens with a solid result.

“She’ll decide whether she can go,” notes the Walkerton native. “I don’t know what kind of a division she hit, but she’ll likely be all right.”

McNair, who now makes his home in Guelph, shares ownership of Frown Upside Down with Bill Brown of Hanover, and the partners have watched the filly deliver two wins and two thirds in four early season efforts. At Flamboro Downs on May 30 Frown Upside Down rolled out of the pocket to a one length victory in a personal best 1:56.1. The filly will head into Saturday’s event off a start at Flamboro on June 6 in the same company, hoping to string together a win streak before the provincial season opener.

Brown and McNair purchased Frown Upside Down from the 2009 Forest City Yearling Sale, offering up $8,500 for the daughter of Grinfromeartoear and Sanctuary. In six freshman starts the filly earned $17,270 — scoring her lone victory in a leg of the Future Starz Series at Hanover last July — and she has added $10,478 to that total this season.

“She grew up pretty good, she’s a nice size now,” notes McNair, who has raced the filly almost exclusively on half-mile tracks. “We’ve never tried her on a real big track.”

Frown Upside Down and six of her peers will square off in Race 7 on Hanover Raceway’s Saturday evening program, hoping to secure a share of the provincial purse money and accumulate enough points to make an appearance in the Grassroots post season.

In Race 5, Sauble Claire will be hoping to achieve the same regular season results as she did last season, but owner Larry Hall will be hoping for an alternative outcome in the post season.

With one win and two seconds in four Grassroots starts, Sauble Claire wrapped up her freshman campaign in fifteenth spot in the division standings, but was forced to miss her Semifinal due to sickness. Tara resident Hall, who bred and owns the filly through his Sauble Hill Farms, and trainer Otis Hall of Ayr would be delighted to see Sauble Claire earn another shot at the post season.

The daughter of L H Stryker-Noble Duchess heads into Saturday’s test off just one prep race, a leg of the Princess Series at Woodbine Racetrack on April 23. She will open her Grassroots season from Post 3 in Race 5.

Sauble Claire faces a talented field of seven including former Gold Elimination winner Your Beautiful from Post 4 and the runner-up in last year’s Grassroots Championship, Memumsnotnice, from Post 7.

The three-year-old pacing filly Grassroots divisions are featured in Races 3 through 12 on Hanover Raceway’s Saturday evening program, which gets underway at 7:15 p.m.

(OSS)

To view entries for Saturday's card of harness racing, click the following link: Saturday Entries – Hanover Raceway.