Many of the two-year-old pacing fillies headed to Rideau Carleton Raceway on Sunday are hoping the trip nets them enough points to secure a berth in the Grassroots post season, but Godiva Seelster has a slightly different agenda.
With a fourth-place finish in her only other Grassroots start, not even a victory will propel Godiva Seelster into the Sept. 21 Semifinals. Trainer Mark Steacy is sending the filly to Ottawa on Sunday to extend her education by one additional race and to make one final assessment of her burgeoning skills.
“She’s been okay. She hasn’t been the strongest filly,” explains Steacy. “She was a late foal and she’s been immature most of the year.”
A $20,000 purchase out of last fall’s Forest City Yearling Sale, Godiva Seelster is a half-sister to former Ontario Sires Stakes standout Go Alberta Go ($386,388). Although she has only netted one second and one third in her eight starts, Steacy has seen enough glimpses of talent that he is content to wait on the growthy daughter of Camluck and $190,280 winner Go Jme Go.
“Usually Camlucks get better with age, hopefully that’s the case with her,” says the horseman, who conditions Godiva Seelster for Barry White of Orleans, Landmark V Racing Stable of Kingston, David Reid of Glenburnie and Higgs Boys Stable of Gananoque.
Godiva Seelster qualified at Rideau Carleton Raceway in June and has made four appearances at the Ottawa oval, the most recent a sixth-place effort on Aug. 31. On Sunday the filly will make her final start from Post 2 in the fourth race and Steacy will hand the lines over to Rideau Carleton’s leading reinsman Simon Allard.
“This is her last race of the year and Simon knows that track inside and out,” says Steacy. “And he’s a little more aggressive, so that might just wake her up a bit too.”
Among the fillies that Allard and Godiva Seelster will face in Sunday’s $24,000 test is fifth-ranked Keystone Maddie, who will start from Post 6, and eleventh-ranked Senorita Santanna, who gets Post 3. Snowbird, who currently sits in a tie for the sixteenth and last spot in the Semifinal, and Posey Tina, who is 21 points out of sixteenth, will be battling hard to boost their tally and extend their season from Posts 9 and 1, respectively.
The top 16 point earners following Sunday’s event will advance to the Sept. 21 Semifinals at Grand River Raceway and the top four finishers from each Semifinal will compete in the $100,000 Grassroots Championship on Sept. 29.
Division point leader Western Empress will be looking to pad her point total from Post 8 in the first race, battling against seven other fillies including her stablemate in the Bob McIntosh stable, Expresso Yourself, from Post 1.
The two-year-old pacing fillies will open Rideau Carleton Raceway’s Sunday evening program at 6:30 p.m. and will also be featured in Races 4 and 8.
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To view entries for Sunday's card of harness racing, click the following link: Sunday Entries – Rideau Carleton Raceway.