Ontario’s talented freshman trotting fillies wrap up their Ontario Sires Stakes Grassroots regular season at Windsor Raceway on Sunday evening, and Dresden-based filly Babes Diamond Road will have her own
cheering squad in attendance for the finale.
“We’ll all go down and watch her, most of the family,” says Patricia Snelgrove, who bred and owns the filly with her husband, trainer Frederick Snelgrove.
“No matter how she does we’re happy with her,” adds the Dresden, ON resident. “There’s always a little disappointment if you don’t do well, but over all, for us, we’re just happy to have got her to the races.”
Babes Diamond Road made her career debut in the Sept. 6 Grassroots event at Dresden Raceway, and delighted her owners with a third-place finish in the 2:07 mile won by Wild Logic.
The filly’s second start came at Georgian Downs in the Sept. 17 Grassroots event and she finished third in a 2:02.4 mile, but was boosted up to second when runner-up Duchess Of Dundee was placed back to sixth for causing interference.
The Snelgroves always believed that the long-legged daughter of Thunder Road and Thys Babe would be a racehorse, but they were in no hurry to start her career. After teaching the filly her early lessons last fall, the couple turned her out for the months of January and February before resuming her training schedule in March.
“She trotted right from the early stages out in the field. When she played she’d be on the trot. She hardly ever did her little canter,” recalls Snelgrove.
“She’s a big growthy looking filly and we felt two months off would help her in the long run,” she continues. “We took our time with her. We hoped we would make it some time at the end of the season, and we were lucky to catch these last few [Grassroots].”
Babes Diamond Road currently has 37 points from her second and third-place results in Grassroots action. The filly would need a top two finish to have a shot at advancing to the Grassroots Semifinals at Western Fair Raceway on Oct. 13, and the Snelgroves are pragmatic about her chances.
“It would be nice if she could get to the Semifinal, but I don’t think that’s possible,” says the long time owner. “It’s been fun so far. It was nice to get her to the races and to get her a few [Grassroots] starts.”
Once the filly’s Grassroots career is over, she will be heading to the Snelgrove’s turn out farm for a nice long rest, before resuming her work in the New Year in preparation for the sophomore campaign.
“We’ll hopefully have her ready to race again around March,” notes Snelgrove. “We’d like to give her lots of time to grow and develop. We feel you have a nicer horse for longer if you don’t overstress them at two.”
Babes Diamond Road will make her third freshman start from Post 3 in the second $24,000 Grassroots division at Windsor Raceway on Sunday. Among the fillies she and regular reinsman Mark Williams will face are former Gold Series regular Honey Thorn from Post 1, former Grassroots division winner Duchess Of Dundee from Post 5, and two-time Grassroots winner Edens Cover Girl from Post 8.
When the fillies line up behind the starting gate, her owners are hoping Babes Diamond Road demonstrates the same enthusiasm for her work that she has shown in her first two outings.
“Fred says he really likes her on the track, she has a real instinct about what she needs to do,” says Snelgrove. “Horses like that are easier to train because they just seem to want to do it.”
Babes Diamond Road and her freshman trotting filly peers will put their racing instincts to the test in Races 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 on Windsor Raceway’s Sunday evening card, which gets under way at 7 p.m.
To view Sunday's entries, click here.
(OSS)