Ontario Sires Stakes Grassroots competition for two-year-old trotting fillies headlined the Thursday (Sept. 19) card at Woodbine Mohawk Park, and both Zebs Flur ($15.30) and Scorched Romance ($9.90) made repeat trips to the winner's enclosure in their respective divisions.
In the $23,500 first division (race one), Zebs Flur and Stephen Byron latched onto the cover of an advancing Muscles Aplenty (Phil Hudon) nearing a :58.1 half mile controlled by 2-1 favourite Highland Foxytrotr (Jody Jamieson). Byron angled Zebs Flur three-wide past threee-quarters in 1:28.1, but she didn't find her best strides until the eighth pole, when she reeled in the tiring pacesetter. The daughter of Muscle Mass and Mistress Chesea was urged to a deep-stretch lead, and she held off a late inside charge from Yen (Jean-Bernard Renaud) to prevail in 1:57.4. Ready To Deal (Trevor Henry) gained belatedly for third.
“She is pretty steady and now she is showing speed,” said the Thornton, ON resident. “I’m really happy with her. She’s coming into the Semi-Finals sharp.”
John Bax trains two-time winner Zebs Flur for the Bax Stable, Don Allensen and Goin To The Show Stable. Through six starts the filly has tallied two wins, one second and two thirds for earnings of $48,114 with both wins and both thirds coming in Grassroots action. She will head into the Semi-Finals with 124 points, putting her third in the two-year-old trotting filly standings.
The $23,850 second division (race six) saw Scorched Romance and Paul MacDonell cede early control to 4-5 choice Goddess De Vie (Doug McNair) after a :28.2 first quarter, draft comfortably behind middle splits of :58.3 and 1:28.1, and then re-emerge in upper stretch. As soon as the outer tier stalled off the home turn, MacDonell angled Scorched Romance off the pegs, and she was driven out to duel down Goddess De Vie for a narrow 1:57.1 score. Warrawee Vulcan (Jamieson) overcame an early break to save third.
Richard "Nifty" Norman trains Scorched Romance, a daughter of Kadabra and Tequila Slammer, for Melvin Hartman, Herb Liverman and David McDuffee.
“We kind of liked her all along, she was a good gaited wee thing but she just took a little while to grow up and get the hang of things,” said Norman. “But now she looks like she can leave the gate, and she’s getting more versatile, and she’s got her confidence. She’s got the Semi-Final and Final coming, hopefully, so she might be able to make a little bit of money here late in the year.”
With two wins, one third, one fourth and one sixth-place finish in Grassroots action she accumulated 123 points and heads into the Semi-Final ranked fourth. The top 20 point earners advance to next Friday’s Semi-Finals at Woodbine Mohawk Park, with the top five finishers from each Semi-Final moving on to the Oct. 5 Grassroots Championships.
While the first two divisions saw their winners turn in repeat performances, Shes Kadabra Cool ($19.20) posted a minor upset to break her maiden in the $23,500 third split. Sylvain Filion saved ground with the Kadabra-Cool Creek Breeze filly up the backstretch while Mybella Angel controlled a :58 half, but the pair encountered traffic with a quarter to go. Filion located a lane in the three-path an eighth from home, and Shes Kadabra Cool accelerated to split fillies and sprint off to a 1-1/4 length win over Moana (Jonathan Drury) and Zakarina (Henry) in 1:58.2.
Trainer Scott McEneny co-owns Shes Kadabra Cool with the Martwest Racing Stable and Harry Rutherford.
“She’s always had the talent, she just was very green and always looking at stuff. She’s just finally starting to get it… I think,” said McEneny. “I think she just needs to learn, and I think that was a great trip for her, to get up the rail and have somebody outside of her the whole time, and she did some body-checking there through the lane and got out, and did it at the right time.”
The win was the filly’s first on the board finish in five lifetime starts and gave her a total of 53 Grassroots points, just ahead of the 50 point cut-off for the post-season.
To view Thursday's harness racing results, click the following link: Thursday Results - Woodbine Mohawk Park.
(with files from OSS)