When trainer Bob Young starts his two-year-old pacing filly Wicked Speed in the fifth division of Sunday’s Ontario Sires Stakes Grassroots at Clinton Raceway, he doesn’t have to worry how his filly will handle the half-mile track. Last Sunday the daughter of Mach Three made her first lifetime start at Clinton and won handily by more than five lengths in 2:00.2.

“I wanted to get a start with her before she started in the Sires Stakes. I could have raced her at Georgian but decided to go to Clinton as that was where the next Grassroots was,” explained Young. “She was very good. She actually paced faster on the turns.”

Young, who lives in Guelph, Ontario, shares ownership of the filly with Marsha Sugarman of Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, whose stable name is Status Stables. She’s best known for having owned 1992 Little Brown Jug winner Fake Left.

“We’ve had horses together in the past and had been looking for another one. Last year Marsha was looking at videos of yearlings online and saw this filly (who was selling in the Lexington Select Sale). I had a look at her video on my iPad. She wasn’t big but she looked like she stood correct.

“I called Shawn Steacy who was at the sale and asked him to have a look at her. He phoned me back and said she stood well, she wasn’t a big filly, would likely end up on the small to medium side. I told him to bid to $15,000 for her and he bought her for us for $10,000."

Bred by GBW Breeding Farms of Ohio, Wicked Speed is the fifth foal from the $106,000 winner Pannie Oakley, by Western Hanover. Young figures the reason the filly was so reasonably priced was due to her size but that hasn’t proven to be a detriment thus far.

“She’s grown quite a bit since we got her and I think she’ll grow more by the time she’s three. She has a big, powerful rear end on her. She wears a fairly long hopple, 57 1/2 inches and no boots.”

Young’s stable is a family affair. His daughter Heather, home for the summer from Carleton University, helps out in the barn when she isn’t working two other jobs. His son Scott, who works for trainer Tony O’Sullivan, is one of the province’s up and coming young drivers and schooled the filly for his dad and drove her in her first qualifier of the year and in her first start last week at Clinton.

Scott will be back in the bike this Sunday at Clinton where Wicked Speed will leave from post three in the ninth race. The other $18,000 Grassroots divisions will go as races one, three, five and seven on the afternoon card which gets underway at 1:30 p.m.

Young plans to keep the filly in the Grassroots division for the remainder of the season.

“I don’t think she has the ruggedness to go in the Gold division. I’d rather be a big fish in a small pond. Hopefully she’ll do well enough to make it to the Grassroots semi-finals (on September 19 at Mohawk).”

Sunday’s race card at Clinton, which may be viewed through the link below, also celebrates the 40th anniversary of the OSS with lots of special events planned for the day. To view the entries for Clinton's Saunday card of harness racing, click the following link: Sunday Entries - Clinton Raceway.

(OSS)