After four consecutive races on American soil, Western Silk returned to her native land and turned in a monster mile on blustery and cold Thursday evening
at Woodbine Racetrack.
The three-year-old daughter of Western Terror-Extemporaneous lined up with ten other sophomore pacing fillies in the last Gold Series elimination of the season, and she used her patented closing kick to perfection en route to a 1:51 tally for the tandem of driver Mark MacDonald and trainer Casie Coleman.
MacDonald got away fifth with Western Silk while stablemate Bay Girl (Phil Hudon) ripped off a :27.1 opening quarter. Bay Girl was challenged and overtaken in the backstretch by O.S.S. Grassroots champ Putnam Mackenzie (Mario Baillargeon). The new leader had the field at the mid-way point in :55.2 before rolling them to the three-quarter pole in 1:22.3.
Bay Girl popped out of the pocket turning for home, and that gave stablemate Western Silk some brief cover to work with as they both came after Putnam Mackenzie. Bay Girl surged past Putnam Mackenzie in deep stretch, but she couldn’t fend off Western Silk who used a :27.4 final frame to post the one-length score in 1:51. Bay Girl was a solid runner-up, with Putnam Mackenzie another 2-1/4 lengths back in third.
The Casie Coleman Stables Inc of Cambridge, ON and Tom Hill of Lancashire, GB own the talented lass, who went over $1.2 million in earnings with the win. After going 7-1-2 in 14 starts as a rookie the pacer has assembled a 9-1-2 record in 13 starts this season.
The top ten finishers from Thursday’s elimination will return to Woodbine Racetrack next Thursday evening to contest the final. Here’s how they’ll line up behind the starting gate:
$130,000 O.S.S. Gold Series Final
1. On The Cusp
2. Oceans Motion
3. Mc Taylor
4. FBs Terror
5. Western Silk
6. Preppy Party Girl
7. Putnam Mackenzie
8. Tiz To Dream
9. Windsong Grand Ave
10. Bay Girl
To view Thursday’s results, click here.