If there's a notable Canadian trainer-sire combination that's enjoyed a fair share of success in recent years, John Pentland and Betterthancheddar would certainly rank as one of the more prevalent tandems.
So it should be no surprise to see a Pentland-trained daughter of Betterthancheddar showing good form and speed during a session of baby races at Woodbine Mohawk Park, like we did on Friday, June 21.
The final dash during the 13-race qualifying session at Mohawk on Friday ended up featuring the fastest mile of the morning courtesy Perfectly Chic. That daughter of Betterthancheddar - Fit N Bad sat off the early speed for driver Bob McClure as Macapelo Seelster (Tyler Borth) paced out panels of :29.4, :59.3 and 1:28.1. McClure moved Perfectly Chic from fourth down the backside to drop into the pocket for the back half, and then re-moved in the stretch to challenge the pacesetter.
Through a :26.4 final quarter, Perfectly Chic powered past Macapelo Seelster to prevail by three parts of a length. The time of the mile was 1:55.2.
Pentland co-owns Perfectly Chic, a full-sister to his O'Brien Award winner Lauras Love (pictured above), with Steve Mihalic of Oakville, Ont. The duo ponied up $12,000 to pluck the filly from the Winbak Farm consignment at Harrisburg last November.
Switching over to the trots, Beersnsunshine Deo made every call a winning one in the eighth qualifier of the morning to trip the timer in 1:58.4 for the fastest trotting performance of the session. Tyler Borth asked the filly to chop out fractions of :30.1, 1:01 and 1:30.4 before storming home in :28 to best nearest rival International Love (Doug McNair) by eight lengths.
Also a $12,000 yearling, this one sold at Lexington by Deo Volente Farms, Beersnsunshine Deo (Six Pack - Wish I Was There) is trained by Suzie Kerwood for S&R Racing Stable Inc. of Acton, Kenneth Backer of Gloucester, Ont. and Martin Leveillee of St-Blaise-Sur-Richelieu, Que.
The full video stream from Friday's session is available below.
For results from the qualifying session, click the following link: Friday Results - Woodbine Mohawk Park (Qualifiers).
(Standardbred Canada)