It is definitely not the norm to see Ron Pierce’s name down to drive on a Tuesday card at Mohawk Racetrack, but that will be the case this week.
With more than $200 million in purses won and 9,267 wins to date in his career, Ron Pierce is one of the elite drivers in harness racing. He’s won virtually all the major stakes races multiple times and was inducted in the Living Hall of Fame in 2005.
Based in New Jersey, Pierce makes forays often to Canada to race in Grand Circuit events, but he doesn’t usually compete in the Ontario Sires Stakes Grassroots program. That’s about to change this Tuesday.
The three-year-old trotting fillies will be contesting their first 2014 OSS Grassroots event in a half-dozen $18,000 divisions at Mohawk and Pierce is listed to drive in three. The reason behind this unusual move can be found in the name of the trainer of two of the fillies he’s driving, his wife Therese, who began her training career earlier this year. She has a strong background in the sport, having worked for several top trainers including Stefan Melander in her native Sweden. Melander is best known in North America for winning the Hambletonian with Scarlet Knight.
The Pierces’ first starter is Eliza Dream who has Post 6 in the second division (Race 2). A daughter of Angus Hall who was raced in the OSS last year by trainer Dean Wall, Eliza Dream was sold late in the year to her current owners, the Pierces, who race under the moniker A Star Is Born Stable of New Jersey.
Tuesday’s race will be Eliza Dream’s first start in Ontario this year as she’s been racing mostly at Pocono Downs or the Meadowlands. In four starts she’s won once and finished second once. Ron Pierce has been at the lines for all of her outings this year.
Her stablemate, Stephana Dream, enters her division with similar credentials as she also has a win and a second-place finish thus far in 2014, but from just three starts. The daughter of Windsong Espoir will depart from the middle of the pack in Post 5 in Race 10.
Both fillies were bred by Dreamwithme Stables of Grand Valley, Ont., which is owned by legendary French horseman Jean Pierre Dubois.
Pierce, who will turn 58 next week, has indicated he’d like to slow down on the catch driving over the next few years and concentrate more on developing a stable.
Pierce – who will be at Mohawk tonight for the OSS Gold event for this same group – also picked up a catch drive in another Grassroots division on Tuesday as he’ll man the lines behind Burst Hanover for trainer Dr. Pete Johnston.
A daughter of Federal Flex, Burst Hanover comes into the contest off a two-length win at Grand River Raceway. The filly’s second dam, Brightest Moment, is a half-sister to a former OSS star, the $626,000 winner Beardmore, a son of Angus Hall.
The three-year-old trotting fillies will face off in Races 1, 2, 3, 5, 9 and 10 on Tuesday night.
To view the harness racing entries for Tuesday at Mohawk, click the following link: Tuesday Entries – Mohawk Racetrack.
(OSS)