As the province's top three-year-old trotting fillies compete in the Ontario Sires Stakes on Thursday night at Mohawk Racetrack, the top earner and Super Final winner from this division in 2014 is conspicuous by her absence.
Danielle Hall has made just two starts in 2015, and was a scratch from her most recently scheduled race -- the last OSS Gold leg nearly a month ago. Trainer Carl Jamieson told Trot Insider that the O'Brien Award finalist has been sidelined by a fluke infection that required time and treatment at the University of Guelph.
"She fell in the paddock and touched her knee and I don't know if she drove something into it or what happened but she got some fungus or infection in it," said Jamieson.
Owned by Jamieson in partnership with Tom Kyron, Danielle Hall (Deweycheatumnhowe - Debbie Hall) just returned to his farm earlier his week. She will remain on medication to combat the infection for another five weeks. The amount of time it will take to get her back to race shape is still unknown.
"She lost a lot of weight over there -- they always do -- so now we have to get the weight back on her and get her into shape again."
Jamieson remains hopeful that Danielle Hall will be ready to return to the track around the time her medication schedule is complete, but notes her situation will be evaluated on a day-to-day basis.
"She seems pretty good, I jogged her [Tuesday] morning just to loosen her up. She feels strong."
After a freshman campaign with seven wins from 14 starts and more than $500,000 in earnings, Danielle Hall was staked to some of the Grand Circuit's top tests for filly trotters including the upcoming Hambletonian Oaks at The Meadowlands. Jamieson and Kyron will now have to look past that race.
If there's a silver lining in this situation, it could be that Danielle Hall's uninvited summer vacation will set her up to be the freshest trotting filly near the end of the year. That scenario would be welcome news to Jamieson, who at this point is hopeful she can regain the form that helped propel her to a runner-up finish to the ultra-impressive Mission Brief in the 2014 Breeders Crown.
"We'll shoot for a couple of [Ontario Sires Stakes] Golds toward the end of the year and maybe the Breeders Crown."