Grand River Raceway hosted the Ontario Sires Stakes Gold Series season opener for the two-year-old pacing fillies, and fans will get a second look at the youngsters on Wednesday, August 11 as they head to the Elora oval
for six $24,000 Grassroots divisions.
Keystone Wildwind will make her Ontario Sires Stakes debut in Wednesday’s fifth race, but the daughter of Mach Three and Keystone Waikiki got a test run around the half-mile oval in an August 4 overnight event that saw her sprint home to a neck victory in 2:01.
“She was third over for a while, then she moved four wide around the turn and just got there at the wire,” recalls trainer Rene Laarman. “It was a great race for the first race of her life. It was a great education for her, put it that way.”
Laarman is hoping the filly can deliver another strong effort on Wednesday, but his expectations are tempered by the outside Post 8 and Keystone Wildwind’s lack of experience. Most of the fillies starting to her left have three or four starts under their belt.
“She’s got some ability that filly, there’s no doubt about it. She’s got some go, but she’s just very green,” notes the veteran horseman, who conditions Keystone Wildwind for Glenview Livestock Ltd. of Wallenstein, ON. “We are hoping she can steadily improve.”
In addition to her August 4 victory, Keystone Wildwind has one qualifying start to her credit, a 1:59.2 effort at Mohawk Racetrack on July 20. The youngster is slightly behind some of her peers after enjoying a mini-vacation between her winter training program at the South Florida Training Centre in Lake Worth, Florida and her final preparations at Mohawk Racetrack under Laarman’s tutelage.
“She trained in Florida all winter, with Dave MacNeill. He did a great job with her,” Laarman explains. “The first week of May she came home, and then she was turned out for two weeks.”
Laarman and Glenview Livestock’s Robert Schlegel picked Keystone Wildwind out of the Hempt Farms consignment at last fall’s Harrisburg Yearling Sale. The filly was a $25,000 acquisition, and Laarman’s early season opinion of the young pacer indicates that may have been a bargain.
“She’s been a pleasure. She’s been a real sweetheart,” says the Guelph, ON resident. “She has tremendous desire on a racetrack. She really likes to do her work.
“She’s the perfect size and she’s good gaited — she wears a pair of shin boots and that’s it,” he adds.
Keystone Wildwind has a few stakes engagements beyond the Ontario Sires Stakes on her dance card, but Laarman says they will progress through the season one start at a time, hoping that the filly can make steady progress in her education.
Arthur, ON resident Trevor Henry will steer Keystone Wildwind in Wednesday’s outing, which is the third of six Grassroots events on the program.
Three of the four winners from the Grassroots season opener will be at Grand River on Wednesday. Chappies Girl will start from Post 8 in Race 6, while Lyons Susan makes her bid for a second Grassroots trophy from Post 8 in the 10th race, and Lucky Taryn gets Post 2 in Race 4. Wednesday will mark the third straight start for Lyons Susan and Lucky Taryn over the Elora half-mile, as both fillies missed the top three in their Battle of the Belles eliminations and then came back to finish first and second in the August 2 consolation. Lyons Susan scored the 1:56.4 win, with Lucky Taryn one and a half lengths back in second.
Post time for Grand River Raceway’s Wednesday evening program is 7:15 p.m., with the two-year-old pacing fillies lighting up the track in Races 1, 4, 5, 6, 8, and 10.
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(OSS)