They say good things come in threes. Trainer Ken Middleton is hoping that rings true on Canada Day (July 1) at Woodbine Mohawk Park when Grammys Girl leaves from post four in one of two Ontario Sires Stakes Gold divisions for two-year-old pacing fillies.
The daughter of Big Jim is the third foal bred by Middleton out of the mare Lady Marina to reach the racetrack.
“She’s really come on strong here in the last couple of months as we’ve been getting her to the races,” said Middleton. “She's got some speed and ability inside of her, just like her siblings do.”
Grammys Girl's half-brother Bob Loblaw (sired by Sunshine Beach) won the OSS Super Final in 2021 during a two-year-old campaign where he earned $233,657. Her half-sister Shes A Sassy Beach (also by Sunshine Beach) is a four-year-old mare with a record of 7-3-6 from 47 starts and more than $114,000 in career earnings.
“Structurally, they're all kind of different,” said Middleton. “The first filly was very tall and she was very slender. Very athletic. She had speed but she was a different build than Bob Loblaw, who grew up to be a tall horse as a three-year-old. But he's a big bodied horse. He's very robust.”
The third member of the trio falls in between, according to Middleton. She's not quite as tall as her half-brother but is still very big bodied and robust. While the three siblings may look different, they share one important characteristic.
“They've all been smart out of this mare and if I could pick one attribute for a horse to have, it would be smarts,” said Middleton. “I like smart horses because they're easy on themselves. They don't waste energy. So that's a similarity they've all had. They're quite intelligent.”
Grammys Girl qualified twice at Woodbine Mohawk Park and finished third in her pari-mutuel debut on June 23 at the Campbellville, Ont. oval behind winner Cheesy Smile. She was individually timed in 1:57.1.
Randy Waples gets the drive for Middleton and his ownership partners in the Dave James Jeff N John X2 Stable.
Big Big Plans (All Bets Off-Somethinincredible) is the 5-2 morning line favourite in Grammys Girl’s $101,300 division. Trevor Henry will drive for trainer/owner Bob McIntosh and partners Mardon Stables and Dave Boyle.
In the other OSS Gold division, Cheesy Smile will be looking to build off her debut win on June 23, where she paced a mile in 1:56.4 on the strength of :26 final quarter. Bob McClure will drive the Betterthancheddar-Frame Worthy filly from post three for trainer John Pentland and partners Cindy Molyneux, Peter Charlton and Archie Leach. Starlight Dancer (Artspeak-Thorne Seelster) is the 5-2 morning line favourite from post seven with Jonathan Drury listed to drive for trainer Melissa Lamoureaux and 1187422 Ontario Inc.
Post time for the Canada Day card is set for 7 p.m.
To view Friday's harness racing entries, click on the following link: Friday Entries - Woodbine Mohawk Park.
(With files from Ontario Racing)