With one Ontario Sires Stakes Grassroots victory under her belt, three-year-old trotting filly Defy Time has already demonstrated her talent, but what sets her apart from the other provincial hopefuls heading to Flamboro Downs this Saturday is her tutor
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Since the start of the year, Defy Time has been practicing her skills alongside aged trotter Indiana Hall, a winner of $642,902 who captured the Grassroots Championship in his sophomore season.
“I have a nice trotter for SSG, name's Indiana Hall,” explained trainer Ian Downey. “And I trained her back with him — in between trips — and she got so she could step right with him and give him all he wanted. I was going, ‘Are you sick, or are you this good?’ And he kept winning so I said, ‘I guess you’re not sick, and maybe you’re that good.’”
Unraced at two, Defy Time made her debut in a non-winners of one race event at Flamboro Downs on February 16, where she finished second. The daughter of Southfork and Cinnabar Hanover then captured her next four races at the Dundas half-mile before heading to London’s Western Fair Raceway and another runner-up finish. The filly then posted three straight wins at London, in two legs of the City of London Trotting Series and the Grassroots season opener, before making her first ever error in the City of London final on May 27.
A second break in stride at Mohawk Racetrack on June 7 forced Downey to re-qualify the filly, and a third break in a qualifier caused him to give her a full veterinary exam. The veterinarian identified and treated a problem area and on June 17 Defy Time responded with a 2:01.4 qualifying effort at Flamboro.
“I think we’ve got her back on the right track now. We found a little problem she had, and the vet corrected that and she qualified well in her last qualifier at Flamboro,” explained the St. George Brant, Ont. resident whose wife, Susan Downey, shares ownership of Defy Time with Scott Maracle of Brantford, Ont. “(Robert) Shepherd said she was back to herself.”
Shepherd will steer Defy Time from the outside Post 8 in the seventh of 10 Grassroots divisions on Saturday. The pair will face a field of eight challengers, including City of London Trotting Series champion Althea M, who gets Post 5, and former Gold Series competitor My Whispering Eye, who will start from Post 4 for owner Terry Hunter of Cambridge, Ont.
In spite of the outside post, Downey is confident in his filly’s chances, and hopeful that Saturday will mark a return to form for the winner of $36,775.
“I’m not worried about the eight hole. If she’s half to herself that won’t bother her. She can trot pretty fast at times,” said the horseman. “And she doesn’t mind following, she’ll just, when you move her, she’ll step ahead.”
If Defy Time continues to impress Downey, the filly may even earn a shot at the Gold Series fillies before the provincial season wraps up. “She’s got quite a lot of talent,” he noted. “I think come the end of the year, they’ll hear tell of Defy Time.”
A modest $5,500 purchase at the 2009 Forest City Yearling Sale, Defy Time has more than paid her bills through her first 11 starts, and while Maracle and Downey have received inquiries, they have no interest in selling a horse that has delivered them to the winner’s circle with such regularity.
“We’ve had a couple of calls, but when you get one like that, that’s what you’re looking for — that’s what we’re all hoping for,” explained the trainer. “And we enjoy going to that little circle on the other side of the track.
“And she loves her work, too. When one’s in front of her, she likes to get by it. She’s just a little sweetheart.”
Defy Time will be hoping to get by the eight other fillies in Race 8 on Saturday. The three-year-old trotting fillies will be featured in Races 2 through 11 on an outstanding Flamboro Downs program which also features the $121,000 finale of the Ellamony Classic and a fundraiser for the Breast Assessment Centre at the Juravinski Hospital and Cancer Centre.
In addition to the on-track happenings, which get underway at 1:00 p.m., fans will be treated to a full slate of rail-side activities, including live entertainment, sampling stations on the tarmac, hand massages compliments of Natura Day Spa, a silent auction, penny sale and 50/50 draw. For more information click here.
To view entries for Saturday's card of harness racing at Flamboro, click the following link: Saturday Entries - Flamboro Downs.
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