Baby Bonita wasn't a familiar face in the Ontario Sires Stakes program as a 2021 two-year-old, but a late season purchase and new connections appear to have the filly pointed for the provincial program as a 2022 sophomore.
The daughter of Sunshine Beach - Bonita Beach was campaigned by trainer Herman Wheeler at Hawthorne Racecourse last year, and the filly put together a 5-4-1 summary from 11 starts with $27,000 in earnings. Bruce Davy of Brockville, Ont. purchased the filly after her rookie season in Illinois and sent the pacer to trainer Bill Budd.
After some qualifiers early this year, Baby Bonita tested the waters in the Blizzard Pacing Series but was then given some time off. After a two-month hiatus, she was back in action during the qualifiers on Friday (March 18) at Woodbine Mohawk Park. Bob McClure sat the filly in fourth through the opening five-eighths of the mile, when sent her first up around the far turn against leader Im King Conn (Sylvain Filion). She sprinted home in :28.2 to collar Im King Conn and hold off the late surge of pocket-sitter Whiskey Break (Trevor Henry) to win by three parts of a length in 1:56.1, the fastest mile of the morning.
Video from the majority of the Friday qualifying session appears below.
To view the charted results from the Friday qualifiers, click the following link: Friday Results - Woodbine Mohawk Park (Qualifiers).