Rideau Carleton Raceway hosts the final regular season Grassroots event for the province’s three-year-old trotting fillies on Friday evening, and Gerard Vaillancourt is using the event to test the skills of his newest acquisition
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The Kemptville resident acquired SA Herbee in mid-August and has sent the filly behind the Rideau Carleton starting gate three times, picking up one first, one second and $4,575. On the advice of driver Denis St. Pierre, he decided to give the Here Comes Herbie daughter a shot at the Grassroots fillies, and the pair will make their bid for a share of $24,000 from Post 3 in the fifth race.
“We thought we’d try. It’s in our backyard and you don’t get a chance to go for that kind of money very often,” says Vaillancourt, who owns and trains SA Herbee. “If I don’t try her now, I’ll never know.”
SA Herbee made one Grassroots start under the tutelage of former trainer Matthew Bax, finishing seventh after making a miscue over the Dresden Raceway half-mile on July 3. She and St. Pierre will be looking to improve on that effort on Friday, and on the Sept. 5 start that saw the reinsman call an early halt to the race when SA Herbee made a break and dropped a knee boot.
“The only reason he took her off the track was because she was stepping on the knee boot,” explains Vaillancourt, adding that St. Pierre’s decision was the smart, safe option for both horse and driver.
The lifelong horseman is hoping Friday’s outing looks more like the one the filly turned in on Aug. 26, when SA Herbee sprinted down the stretch to grab her first lifetime victory by a neck margin in 2:01.1.
Although she has only been in his barn for just over three weeks, Vaillancourt says SA Herbee’s happy-go-lucky attitude quickly won him over.
“Everything she seems to do is okay with me. We’re not very hard to get along with, and neither is she,” says the horseman. “She seems to have a very good attitude.”
Friday will be SA Herbee’s only opportunity to test her skills against the Grassroots fillies, as the division regulars make one last attempt to pad their point totals. The top 20 points earners will head to Mohawk Racetrack on Sept. 24 for a pair of $30,000 Semifinals. The top five finishers from each Semifinal will then return to Mohawk on Oct. 1 for the $100,000 Grassroots Championship.
Among the fillies SA Herbee faces in Race 5 are recent Grassroots division winners Second Avenue and My Whispering Eye from Posts 6 and 9, as well as top 10 ranked Here Comes Jenny (ninth) and Defy Time (fourth) from Posts 5 and 8.
Extraordinaire, Harlow Seelster and Honey Thorn currently share top spot in the division standings, but only Extraordinaire and Honey Thorn will make the trip to Ottawa Friday. Extraordinaire will be looking for her fourth Grassroots trophy from Post 5 in the third race, while Honey Thorn takes aim on her third victory from Post 5 in Race 7.
The three-year-old trotting fillies will be featured in Races 1, 3, 5, and 7, raising the curtain on Rideau Carleton Raceway’s Friday evening program at 6:30 p.m.
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To view entries for Thursday's card of harness racing, click the following link: Thursday Entries – Rideau Carleton Raceway.