Ontario-sired three-year-old pacing fillies faced off in the Kin Pace elimination round on a rainy Sunday afternoon at Clinton Raceway.
Trevor Henry won two of the three $8,000 eliminations with Stonebridge Quest and Dublin Rose as part of a five-win performance on the 10-race card. The Kin Pace is for fillies that were non-winners of $50,000 in 2014.
Entering the eliminations off a Ontario Sires Stakes Grassroots victory over Georgian Downs two weeks ago, Stonebridge Quest kicked off the Sunday action with a wire-to-wire victory, leaving from post five and leading through fractions of :29.1, :59.2 and 1:29.4 before stopping the clock in 1:58.2 over the "good" track. Andrew McCabe trains the Camluck-Glacier Express filly, who was last year's Grassroots Championship winner, for Glenview Livestock Ltd. of Guelph-Eramosa and breeder Angie Stiller of Arva, Ont. Ok Heartbeat (Clarke Steacy) followed over two lengths behind while Promesse Duharas (Stuart Sowerby) finished third.
Allen Tomlinson's homebred filly Dublin Rose battled past Sassafras Girl (Phil Hudon), the eventual third-place finisher, at the 1:28.2 third quarter mark and held off Warrawee Qually (Ryan Holliday) by half a length to win her elimination in 1:58.4. The Major In Art-Bronwen Seelster filly, who last raced in an OSS Gold leg three weeks ago at Mohawk Racetrack finishing third, notched her first win of the season.
The other elimination was won by Windsun Chanel and driver Phil Hudon in gate-to-wire fashion. The Murray Brethour-trained filly cruised through panels of :30, 1:00.1 and 1:30.1 en route to the 1:59.4 triumph, with Ok Heavenly (Clarke Steacy) three-quarters of a length behind in second and first up Little Miss Sporty (Trevor Henry) third. Owned and bred by Windsun Farm Inc. of Uxbridge, Ont., the Sportswriter-Windsun Dee filly broke a streak of three runner-up efforts and notched her second win of the season.
The $60,800 Kin Pace final will be contested on the Sunday, July 5 card at Clinton Raceway, which gets underway at 1:30 p.m. The race, which was first held in 2008, was named in tribute to the Clinton Kinsmen, who introduced pari-mutuel wagering to the harness track in July of 1970. Two members of the club, the late Frank Cook and Ted McCullough, were credited with their vision for harness racing in Clinton. The track was successfully run and operated by the Kinsmen, along with the Kinette Club of Clinton, for 14 years.
“The Kin Pace was a logical race to host in Clinton; it honours our heritage, and without the existence of the Kinsmen Club, the Raceway wouldn’t be what it is today,” explained General Manager Ian Fleming.
The Kin Pace has traditionally been held in conjunction with the Kinsmen and Kinette’s PlucKIN’fest weekend, now in its 19th year.
“It’s a great addition to the already successful weekend long event, and we’ve developed a strong partnership with the club,” stated Fleming.
Along with the featured race, nine other exciting races will be taking place during the afternoon of live racing, the Fireman’s breakfast will kick the morning off at the grandstand, followed by the PlucKIN’fest Elimination draw during the races, and the ever popular Pineridge Chicken BBQ can be enjoyed following the live race card from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. under the grandstand.
The field for the Kin Pace is listed below in post position order.
1. Sassafras Girl
2. Dublin Rose
3. OK Heavenly
4. Stonebridge Quest
5. Windsun Chanel
6. Warrawee Qually
7. Little Miss Sporty
8. OK Heartbeat
AE1. Promesse Duharas
AE2. Bad Mood
To view Sunday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Sunday Results - Clinton Raceway.
(With files from Clinton Raceway)