Ontario Sires Stakes Grassroots action for two-year-old pacing fillies begins Tuesday, July 5 at Woodbine Mohawk Park and Louis-Philippe Roy is pulling double duty as driver and owner in three of the five divisions.
Two of the fillies Roy will be driving are among the favourites, both listed as the 7-2 second choices in their respective $22,000+ divisions.
Maple, who Roy is the sole owner of, goes in Race 5, the third Grassroots division. The daughter of Sportswriter has made two starts in the two-year-old class at Mohawk.
“I think she is ready for a good effort,” said Roy. “She had a few starts where she needed some experience and now she has it. I expect a good race from her.”
Eric Nadeau trains Maple, who is out of unraced Bettors Delight mare Bettor Beach.
Best Actress is the other 7-2 shot Roy will drive in Race 9. Also trained by Nadeau, the Betterthancheddar filly won a qualifier on June 24 at the Campbellville, Ont. oval, taking a mark of 1:57.1.
“She has been showing a lot of talent,” said Roy. “It is hard to tell with babies because it is different week after week, but she is the one we had our eye on the most all winter long.”
Best Actress is out of Western Hanover mare Red Carpet Queen, who has produced four winners of more than $100,000 from eight starters, including 11-year-old Lucky King, who has a record of 49-37-46 from 313 starts and nearly $400,000 in earnings. Roy co-owns Best Actress with Bill Donovan.
The final filly in Roy’s trio is Pocahontas Du Lac, a daughter of Betterthancheddar, who he bred with his brother and his brother’s girlfriend.
“They handled the breeding and raised her until she was a yearling,” said Roy. “The fact [that] it is such a long process makes it more rewarding if they do well."
Pocahontas Du Lac is co-owned by Pierre-Luc Roy, Maude Larouche and Jean Allaire. Assessed at odds of 8-1 on the morning line, the Betterthancheddar-Sheissuchadream filly will make her third career start in Tuesday's opener.
For all three of his fillies, Roy will try and keep them calm as they continue their young racing careers.
“Two-year-olds are easy to excite, but they are hard to slow down to relax,” said Roy. “You’re not going to get a good result if they’re excited the first half. If you race them too hard, you will get empty. That’s my approach and pretty much everyone’s approach.”
Roy will also drive the debuting Twinbrook Limited homebred Twin Devotion (Bettors Delight-JK Isntshelovely) in the seventh race Grassroots division for trainer Francis Dumouchel.
To view Tuesday's harness racing entries, click on the following link: Tuesday Entries - Woodbine Mohawk Park.
(With files from Ontario Racing)