Driver Louis-Philippe Roy sat Love That Smile off a first-turn flurry for position before sending the 4-5 favourite after the lead and to a 1:54.4 score in the $145,060 Battle of the Belles on Monday (Aug. 2) at Grand River Raceway.
Big Bettor Hanover bolted for the lead from post 2 with Warrawee Xpat and Cheryls Shadow also shooting for position into the backstretch. Warrawee Xpat rejected the pocket and stayed wide around the turn to take the lead while Cheryls Shadow pulled back for a spot at the cones. Once the action calmed upfront, Roy charged to the centre of the track with Love That Smile into a :27.3 first quarter and took over command moving around the second turn.
Speak Your Mind led the developing outer tier passing the stands first time and marched to within a length of the leader passing a :57.3 half. She lost ground on the pacesetter as Roy accelerated Love That Smile up the backstretch, clicking three-quarters in 1:26. Love That Smile continued to speed around the final turn and kept rolling through the lane to win over a late-charging Big Bettor Hanover, with Warrawee Xpat finishing third and Cheryls Shadow taking fourth.
“I don’t think she has the gate speed yet,” Roy said after the race on his decision to take back with Love That Smile. “Maybe she’ll develop that asset, so just making the front off the gate wasn’t an option. So then the other option was to make sure I wasn’t going to get in trouble. I didn’t really ask her. I just let her float; do her thing. I was just making sure nobody was going to come surprise her, but definitely she was feeling good. All the credit to Bourassa’s team there.
“It’s really exciting – I’ve raced here for a few years,” Roy also said on winning the co-featured event on Industry Day. “I’ve seen either Jody [Jamieson] or Doug [McNair] winning these races often. I started racing on a half mile like a lot of guys… it’s a different type of racing and it’s exciting to be successful at it.
A two-year-old filly by Sportswriter, Love That Smile won her third race from five starts, earning $98,013 for owners M&S Racing Stable Inc., Gilles Caouette and trainer Rene Bourassa. She paid $3.60 to win.
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To view Monday's compete results, click the following link: Monday Results – Grand River Raceway.