All 16 contestants in Saturday’s Ontario Sires Stakes Gold Series event at Georgian Downs expelled a sigh of relief when they learned division superstar Bee A Magician would sit this round out.
The three-year-old trotting fillies will wage two $105,000 Gold Series splits without the division heavyweight, who is undefeated in 10 sophomore starts and has not been bested in Ontario Sires Stakes action since July 2012.
Samira Hanover has not yet had the pleasure of making Bee A Magician’s acquaintance, and her connections were quite content to put off the introductions for another week. Owned by Steve Organ of Aurora, P C Wellwood Enterprises Inc. of Cambridge, A K Malik Stable of Ottawa and William B. Weaver III of Freehold, New Jersey, Samira Hanover makes her debut in the Gold Series on Saturday, hoping for a top finish from post two in the fifth race.
Unraced as a two-year-old, Samira Hanover made her career debut in the Grassroots season opener at Mohawk Racetrack, recovering from an early mistake to finish third. Since then the Kadabra daughter has posted two more third-place finishes in open company and earned a 1:56.4 win in non-winners of two races competition at Mohawk on July 11.
A $50,000 purchase at the 2011 Harrisburg Yearling Sale, Samira Hanover could make a sizeable dent in the amount owing on her purchase price with another top three finish Saturday. Mike Keeling will send the filly out in the first Gold division, which also features Bee A Magician’s stablemate Choir Robe from post three, top Grassroots filly Orderingin at post four, and Canadian Breeders Champion Motown Muscle — who came within a head of halting Bee A Magician’s win streak in the Aug. 10 Mid-Summer Challenge — at post eight.
The second Gold Series battle takes place in the eighth race and will see division point leader Angies Lucky Star square off against seven rivals from post three. Among the fillies hoping to dethrone the point leader are third-ranked Anaffairtoremember from post two and Mid-Summer Consolation winner Warrawee Olay from post four.
Post time for the Saturday, Aug. 24 program at Georgian Downs is 7:25 p.m. and the three-year-old trotting fillies are featured in races five and eight.
To view Saturday's harness racing entries, click on the following link: Saturday Entries - Georgian Downs.
(OSS)