Eliminations for the Breeders Crown Championships picked up on Saturday night at Woodbine Mohawk Park with the three-year-old trotting fillies facing off in a pair of $32,500 splits.
The top five finishers in each sophomore filly trot elimination will advance to next weekend's final.
O'Brien Award winning filly The Ice Dutchess kicked off the second night of eliminations winning in front-end fashion for owner Coyote Wynd Farms of Vancouver, B.C.
Echoing his early success in Friday's elimination round, driver Yannick Gingras found himself back in the winner's circle after steering The Ice Dutchess to a 1:53 victory.
Trained by Nancy Johansson, the Muscle Hill-The Ice Queen filly made front after a :28.1 opening quarter and led the field through a half in :57 before opening up 4-1/2 lengths en route to three-quarters in 1:24.3.
Elegantimage Stakes champion Evident Beauty (David Miller), the 3-2 favourite, began to make gains on the front-striding filly down the stretch, but she broke stride taking herself out of Breeders Crown contention, ultimately ending up sixth-placed-eighth.
Sent postward as the 3-1 second choice, The Ice Dutchess cruised home to notch her fifth victory from 14 starts this year. She returned $8.80 to win. Only Take Cash (Trevor Henry) closed off cover for second-place while a from-last Winndevie (Brian Sears) collared early leader Grimmie Hanover (Corey Callahan) at the wire for third. Seaside Bliss (James MacDonald) rounded out the top five finish order.
"Looking at the race on paper, I thought maybe I'd end up on the front and I was perfectly OK with that," said Gingras. "I think the trip doesn't matter with her; if she's on her game, she can do it any which way.
"She's been good for a few starts and Nancy's got her figured out gait-wise," he noted. "She's as good as she's going to get and it's just a matter of getting her in the right spot. I think in Lexington last week she raced really good, just missed [in the Kentucky Filly Futurity], and she was good tonight."
Johansson noted that the right shoeing combination and addition of Lasix has helped The Ice Dutchess shine.
"She's a really nice filly; when she gets everything put together I think she's actually one of the best fillies in the group," stated Johansson. "We've had a little bit of trouble getting her around this track, but I think we've got the right shoe combination now and I think she'll be fine.
"When she raced in the Elegantimage up here I thought she looked the best she's looked around this track previous to tonight, but she actually did bleed in that start for us so we put her on Lasix when we got to Lexington and it obviously helped her."
Unraced as a two-year-old, Fashion Farms' homebred trotting filly Millies Possesion has prospered into a Breeders Crown contender. Her matching 1:53 winning elimination effort marked the 11th victory of her debut season from 14 starts.
In rein to Dexter Dunn, the Jim Campbell trainee rushed up from fifth to take the lead from Hambletonian Oaks champion When Dovescry (Simon Allard) after a :27 first quarter. She touched down on the front nearing the :56.1 midway mark and continued on to three-quarters in 1:24 with Beautiful Sin (Ake Svanstedt), the 4-5 favourite fresh off her Kentucky Filly Futurity win, stalled first-up.
Millies Possesion trotted confidently into the stretch with When Dovescry drifting out of the pocket before surging late but coming up a length short at the wire. Sweet Chapter (Matt Kakaley) followed in third, finishing just ahead of Asiago (Tim Tetrick) and Miss Trixton (Brian Sears).
"She's a great filly and she's proved that all year long," said Dunn. "She's had one miss, and that was her last start at Lexington [finishing seventh in the Filly Futurity], and she's put some great runs in. I knew tonight when I post paraded her that she felt great. They sort of really backed the pace off going to the back and I decided to move her and I said to Jimmy that was probably the best she's trotted and steered all year. She felt great.
"If you chuck away her last start, she's never got tired in a mile. She's always right there."
"She had a legit excuse after her start in Lexington," explained Campbell. "She scoped sick and we got her back to New Jersey, got her on some antibiotics. She acted good training this week and she showed it tonight."
Millies Possesion was the 6-1 fourth choice on the toteboard and returned $14 to win.
"She's been a true professional from Day One," said Campbell of the the Possess The Will-Fashion Athena filly. "I give the most credit to her caretaker Anne Mosner, she's worked very hard on this filly all year long and she's just done such a terrific job with her. She took care of her last year, she didn't make it to the races last year but I give Ann all the credit."
Dunn, who also qualified four freshmen on Friday (Amigo Volo, Shishito, Peaky Sneaky and Marloe Hanover), will have his hands full in his first Breeders Crown appearance next weekend.
"It's a pleasure to be here and it's a pleasure to get to sit behind horses like Millies Possesion," he said. "The horses do all the hard work."
Here is a look at the field in post position order for the final:
$500,000 Three-Year-Old Filly Trot
1. The Ice Dutchess
2. Millies Possesion
3. Miss Trixton
4. Asiago
5. Sweet Chapter
6. When Dovescry
7. Winndevie
8. Grimmie Hanover
9. Seaside Bliss
10. Only Take Cash
The 2019 Breeders Crown, presented by Libfeld-Katz Breeding Partnership, will be contested next weekend at Woodbine Mohawk Park with the championships for three-year-olds and up set for Saturday, Oct. 26.