In 16 starts this season, Countess Stormont has only missed three cheques, and trainer Norm Jones is hoping the three-year-old trotting miss can extend her steady streak through this Thursday's Trillium Series contest at Rideau Carleton Raceway.
"She's got to be a pretty solid 1:56 or 1:57 trotter who can come home in :28 or :29 seconds. That puts her in the hunt in that class pretty good," says Jones, who trains the winner of $76,859 for breeder Stormont Meadows of Long Sault. "She's a real sensible, clean going filly - she only wears a set of polo bandages behind - she's good gaited."
Countess Stormont will start from Post 6 in the first $23,485 Trillium Series division on Thursday, among the more advantageous draws the Kadabra daughter has had all year. The filly heads into the second Trillium event off a pair of tough races at Mohawk Racetrack that saw her start from Posts 9 and 10.
In the August 22 Standardbred Breeders of Ontario Association Stake Final, Countess Stormont started from Post 10 and recorded one of her rare out of the money finishes after rocketing out to an early lead with a :26.3 opening quarter.
On September 4 the filly salvaged a fourth-place finish from Post 9 in an overnight event, getting a steady come from behind steer from 19-year-old reinsman Jonathan Drury.
Jones was pleased with the young driver's performance and offered Drury the mount aboard Countess Stormont through her next five starts, which will see the filly head to Flamboro for the fourth Gold Series event and back to Ottawa for the regular season finale in early October.
"He drove the horse real good," notes Jones. "He drove her real sensible and finished fourth. So he'll drive her in her next five starts."
With just 40 starts lifetime under his belt, those five Ontario Sires Stakes appearances will be significant for Drury as he launches his driving career.
"Sometimes they (young drivers) don't get to drive horses of this calibre, in the big races," explains veteran horseman Jones. "But he's driven two or three horses on the Jockey Club and he did good with them, and they weren't the chalk favourites."
Drury and Countess Stormont will be looking to kick off a late season surge on Thursday that will propel them through to the Gold Series post season. Currently ranked thirteenth in the point race, the half-sister to $912,938 winner Lord Stormont needs a pair of solid efforts in the last two Gold events to earn a berth in the $300,000 Super Final.
"She goes back to Flamboro next in a Gold elimination, and she's already trotted Flamboro in 1:57.3," reports Jones. "Even as big as she is, she's good on a half mile track. Then it's back to Rideau for the last Gold. With a little bit of luck in those two races she'll make the $300,000 final."
Facing a field weighted with Grassroots regulars in Thursday's Trillium contest, the filly's connections would love to see her find a path to the winner's circle and earn her first piece of provincial hardware.
Countess Stormont will tackle her peers in the third race on Rideau Carleton Raceway's Thursday evening program, which gets under way at 6:30 p.m. The other two Trillium Series divisions are slated as Races 6 and 9.
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