On Saturday night Georgian Downs’ signature event, the $100,000 Earl Rowe Memorial Trot, will anchor their card, which also features five $18,000 divisions of the Ontario Sires Stakes Grassroots for two-year-old pacing fillies.
The impact of the OSS program can be seen in the field for the Earl Rowe as four of the starters are successful OSS graduates. The richest trotter in the field is six-year-old Daylon Magician, who has $1.6 million banked to date in his career for owner/breeders Mary and Dave Lemon of Komoka, Ont. Jack Moiseyev, known primarily for his impressive driving skills, has taken over the training of Daylon Magician and will steer him from post nine on Saturday evening.
Another son of Kadabra, Flanagan Memory, has post six. A winner of more than $300,000 in the OSS and $555,000 lifetime, the four-year-old ended his OSS career on a high note, winning the year-end Super Final last fall. The third son of Kadabra in the mix is R Raised Emotions, who has the rail.
Charmed Life, the only mare in the group, also earned close to $300,000 in the OSS. The four-year-old daughter of Majestic Son has post three in the Rowe Memorial with Robert Shepherd tapped to steer.
The Rowe Memorial is slated as race 10 on the program. Race fans will be treated to some great action prior to that as the top fillies in the OSS Grassroots rookie pacing division have been entered. There’s a bottleneck on the top of this division as only two points separates the top three.
Sassafras Girl is the narrow leader with 102 points. That Badlands Hanover filly, who has two OSS wins to her credit thus far, has drawn post one in the third race. Paul MacKenzie will be at the lines for trainer Murray Brethour and owner Hutt Racing Stable of Pennsylvania.
Two fillies are tied for second with 100 points each. Wicked Speed is undefeated to date in her young career with three wins, including two Grassroots events, in as many starts. Bob Young trains the daughter of Mach Three and co-owns with Marsha Sugarman of Massachusetts.
Prior to her first OSS start, Young indicated his plan for the year to keep her in the Grassroots for her rookie season. “I’d rather be a big fish in a small pond. Hopefully she’ll do well enough to make it to the Grassroots semi-finals [on September 19 at Mohawk],” he said and she has certainly lived up to his expectations.
The other filly with 100 points is Chase The Shadows, who has drawn post three in the sixth race. Dave Menary trains the daughter of Shadow Play, owned by breeders Darwin and Ann Shaver and Laura Perniciaro of Michigan.
Post time at Georgian on Saturday night is 7:15 p.m. with the OSS fillies kicking off the night in the first three races followed by race six and nine. The track has an OSS double-header this weekend as Sunday’s card, which starts at 6 p.m. features the rookie pacing colts in eight Grassroots divisions.
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