Windsor Raceway’s last Ontario Sires Stakes Gold Series event of the 2010 season begins on Wednesday, Oct. 27 with one $40,000 Gold elimination for the three-year-old trotting fillies
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A total of 11 fillies will vie for nine spots on the gate in the Nov. 3 Gold Final and trainer-driver Lyle MacArthur was grateful to learn that reigning Gold Final champ Emmylou Who will begin defense of her title from Post 2 in the over-sized field.
“I’m just glad she got a decent post,” said the St. George Brant, Ont. resident. “She’ll get trained tomorrow and then she’ll be ready to go by Wednesday.”
MacArthur prepped Emmylou Who for Wednesday’s contest in an overnight event on opening night at Woodbine Racetrack, and the horseman was satisfied with the filly’s fifth-place result. After she swept her Sept. 16 Gold elimination and the Sept. 23 Gold Final at Rideau Carleton Raceway, MacArthur gave the filly a brief rest in preparation for the last three races of her Ontario Sires Stakes career.
“I raced her from off the pace, and she wasn’t handling the track down there very good. It was very loose,” said MacArthur of her Oct. 18 outing. “She raced okay. I hadn’t trained her that hard in between.”
The ultra-consistent daughter of Ken Warkentin and Emerald Seelster will be looking for her fifth win of the season on Wednesday. In 15 sophomore starts the filly has never missed a cheque, recording five seconds, two thirds, two fourths and two fifths in addition to her victories. Owners Linda Wellwood of St. George Brant, Tammy Aspden of Caistor Centre, Ont., Anne Shunock of Dorchester, Ont. and Diane Ingham of Mount Pleasant, Ont. have banked $376,038 on her behalf this season.
Her sweep of the Gold Series event at Rideau Carleton in September boosted Emmylou Who to the top of the Gold Series standings, giving her a total of 225 points. Two-time Gold Final winner Cross Of Lorraine, who is absent from Wednesday’s field, sits second in the three-year-old trotting filly division standings with 192 points, while the winner of the season opening Gold Final, Random Destiny, sits third with 165 points. Random Destiny will start from Post 4 in Wednesday’s Gold elimination.
With their spots in the season ending Super Final secure, both Emmylou Who and Random Destiny will be using Wednesday’s Gold elimination as more than just a qualifier for the Nov. 3 Gold Final.
“I’m glad they’re racing because she needs another race to go into her next two races,” explained MacArthur.
As the season draws to a close, some recent Gold Series events have not required eliminations and all the contestants have moved straight on to the final.
“It’s kind of hard to find a spot to race her,” he added.
In addition to Emmylou Who and Random Destiny, last year’s division champion Poof Shes Gone and recent Breeders Crown finalist Wilsonator will be polishing their skills in advance of the $300,000 Super Final test.
Lining up at Post 6, Poof Shes Gone will make her first start since a Sept. 6 division of the Simcoe Stakes where she finished a disappointing 10th over the Mohawk Racetrack oval. The Kadabra daughter heads into her second Gold Series event of the season from an Oct. 15 qualifier at Lexington, Kentucky's famed Red Mile that saw her lay down a :26.3 last quarter to stop the clock at 1:59.
Wilsonator returns to Gold Series action fresh off a third in her Oct. 2 Breeders Crown elimination at Pocono Downs and a fourth in the $500,000 final one week later. The Kadabra daughter will start from Post 7 in the 11 filly field.
The talent laden Gold elimination will got postward as Race 7 on Windsor Raceway’s Wednesday evening program, which gets under way at 7 p.m. The top nine finishers will return to the border oval for the last Gold Final of their careers on Nov. 3.
To view Wednesday's entries, click here.
(OSS)