Ron Burke knew what it was like to race against female pacer Chancey Lady, so when the trainer got the opportunity to buy her full sister, Camille, he jumped at the chance.
Burke and his racing partners – Weaver Bruscemi LLC, M1 Stable and Jack Piatt III – bought Camille in July after being the lessees for two months. The five-year-old mare was owned previously by her breeder, Jack Pollard of Harrow, Ontario. Since joining the Burke barn, Camille has won 12 of 21 races, including the $221,000 Ellamony last June at Flamboro Downs.
She is two-for-two this season, with both victories coming in the Blue Chip Matchmaker Series at Yonkers Raceway. Round three of the Matchmaker is Friday night, with four divisions on the card. The preliminary rounds continue through April 19 and the final is April 27.
Camille, who with Krispy Apple is the only undefeated mare in the series, will start from post five with driver Yannick Gingras in the third division Friday. The seven-horse field includes Anndrovette, who won a Matchmaker division last week, and Ramona Disomma, who was a first-round winner.
“She’s as good as anybody in the series,” Burke said about Camille. “Yannick hasn’t asked her [to go] yet; she’s done it all well within herself. The trip doesn’t really matter to her; she can win from the front, she can come from dead last, she can race off cover. There’s really no knock against her. She’s a complete professional.”
Burke, who is leading all trainers in wins and earnings for the fifth consecutive year, said Camille came from a “great family.” Camille, who has won 22 of 57 career races and earned $776,102, is out of the dam Art Of Design. She is a full-sister to O'Brien Award winner Chancey Lady, who captured the 2008 Fan Hanover.
Her sire, Camluck, has produced three female pacers to earn at least $2 million in U.S. money – Burning Point, Dreamfair Eternal and Chancey Lady – and a fourth, Invitro, who topped $2 million Canadian. Dreamfair Eternal was Canada’s Horse of the Year in 2010.
Chancey Lady finished second to Anndrovette in the 2011 Breeders Crown in a field that included Burke trainees Ginger And Fred and Rock N Soul. Chancey Lady won the 2010 Cape & Cutter, where Ginger And Fred finished third, and participated in the Matchmaker Series on three occasions winning multiple divisions.
“Both [Camille and Chancey Lady] are good horses, but they do it in different ways,” Burke said. “Chancey Lady went some miles where you said to yourself, ‘Wow! What a fast horse.’ Our horse doesn’t have that blazing speed, but she can do the job any way she has to.”
Krispy Apple races in the Matchmaker’s second division on Friday. Second leg winners Eighthunrdolarbill and Royal Cee Cee N (who finished in a dead heat with Warrawee Koine) are in the first division, which also features first round winner Feeling You. Defending series champion Rocklamation, who won a first round split as well, leads Friday’s fourth division, along with Warrawee Koine.
Following are the top 10 mares in the standings for the Matchmaker (with points). Horses receive 50 points for a win, 25 for second, 12 for third, eight for fourth and five for fifth. Horses also get 25 points per start.
1. tie, Camille, Krispy Apple (150); 3. tie, Anndrovette, Eighthunrdolarbill, Feeling You (125); 6. Royal Cee Cee N (112.5); 7. Rocklamation (112); 8. Ramona Disomma (100); 9. Warrawee Koine (92.5); 10. Ginger And Fred (87).
This story courtesy of Harness Racing Communications, a division of the U.S. Trotting Association. For more information, visit www.ustrotting.com.