Heading into Monday’s $130,000 Gold final at Mohawk Racetrack, trainer John Kopas and driver Jack Moiseyev are in complete agreement about their race strategy
with two-year-old pacing filly Windsong Grand Ave.
“Our intention is not to hurry her out of there, just to get her settled,” explains Kopas, a resident of Milton, Ont. “If she’s anywhere near them at the head of the stretch, I think she has a chance at winning the race.”
Kopas’ faith in the filly’s late sprint is partially due to a mistake Moiseyev felt he made in last week’s elimination. Starting from Post 6, the veteran reinsman tried to hustle Windsong Grand Ave off the gate and the filly made a break, spotting the field more than 14 lengths. What has the pair feeling confident about their chances in Monday’s final however, is the way the filly recovered, reeling in the field and laying down a :26.2 last quarter to go from tenth to third, just one length behind winner Ice Ice Baby.
“It was a pretty unbelievable performance, it really was,” marvels Kopas, who conditions the filly for breeder William Loyens of London and Harry Loyens of Ilderton, Ont. “She’s pretty special I think.
“Jack says he maybe just hurried her out there a little too much, and she got mixed up and made a break,” Kopas adds. “I was somewhat surprised at the recovery she made, but I felt all along that she was a special filly. She’s got a great attitude, that’s for sure.”
Windsong Grand Ave arrived in the Kopas stable just over six weeks ago, ready for a final polish before she made her qualifying debut, and the veteran horseman says the Camluck miss made an impression from the moment she stepped off the trailer.
“Right from the first day she stepped into our barn I felt she was an exceptional filly,” he admits. “I’m certainly pleased that the Loyens called me and gave me the opportunity to train her for them.”
Kopas says Windsong Grand Ave trained twice after arriving in his care, and then made her qualifying debut at Mohawk Racetrack on June 22, delivering a workmanlike effort in 2:02.3. It was in her second qualifier that the filly really started to show off her skills, circling the Campbellville oval on the front end to reach the wire two and a half lengths ahead of her peers in 1:58.2.
“The second day she qualified it was very, very windy. I think they did allow one second, but they probably could have allowed two, and she did it very easy,” recalls Kopas.
Moiseyev has sat behind the talented young pacer in each of her starts, and will guide her gently away from Post 1 in Monday’s final. Elimination winners Striking Terror and Ice Ice Baby will start from Posts 6 and 8, respectively.
The second foal from Bill Loyens’ $530,636 winner Jasper Avenue, Windsong Grand Ave will be hoping to follow in the footsteps of her big sister, Windsong Filou, who captured her first Gold final at Georgian Downs last weekend to boost her lifetime earnings to $212,410.
The lucrative freshman pacing filly Gold final is slated for Race 5 on Mohawk Racetrack’s Monday evening program, which opens at 7:20 p.m. with the first leg of the Dream Maker Pacing Series for freshman pacing colts.
Click here to view Monday's harness racing entries at Mohawk Racetrack.
(OSS)