WOODSTOCK, ON — Trainers often regard it as an advantage when an Ontario Sires Stakes event comes to the racetrack where they stable, but Stephen Gillard is not sure that will be the case for his two-year-old pacing filly Rhiannon O Rhye when Woodstock Raceway hosts the Trillium Series on Saturday.
Rhiannon O Rhye finished second in the fastest Trillium division at Georgian Downs three weeks ago and was fourth in both her July 1 elimination and the July 8 Gold Final at Woodbine Racetrack, but Gillard thinks her familiarity with Woodstock could be a disadvantage this weekend.
“Every time I truck her somewhere she races like a bear,” says the Tavistock resident, who bred, owns and trains Rhiannon O Rhye. “But at Woodstock she is still afraid of the same one-eighth marker that she was eight months ago. At other tracks she doesn’t know what to be afraid of. Some horses you like racing at home, but I’m not sure she’s one of them.
“I don’t know what I’ll have to do with her. I may have to take her for a ride out to the farm and then go back to a ship-in stall instead of her own.”
On the plus side the post position draw could not have worked out better for the Gypsys Hellion filly. She will start from Post 8 in the eighth race and Gillard says that should suit her racing style perfectly.
“She will like that very well. She doesn’t know how to leave, but she comes off cover really well,” he notes. “As far as bursting off the gate, this isn’t one like that.”
That inability to fire off the gate may be a deciding factor when Gillard sits down to plan Rhiannon O Rhye’s schedule over the next few months. After the Trillium Series event at Woodstock the OSS Gold fillies head for Rideau Carleton Raceway on July 19 and 26, while the Grassroots competitors return to Georgian Downs for their second event on July 20.
“I’d sooner be a really good Grassroots horse than a mediocre Gold horse,” says the horseman. “She hasn’t shown me yet which she is. I will make up my mind this weekend.”
One of the reasons Gillard is still deciding where to slot the winner of $19,781 is his own surprise at the miles she has delivered in the last three weeks.
“She qualified good the first time I qualified her (June 15) and poorly the second time (June 21). I took her to Georgian Downs on the strength of those two qualifiers and she shocked me with the mile she went,” he recalls. “I guess that is when I found out that she is a nice filly. She did everything well all winter, but no better than a lot of other yearlings I have sat behind.”
Rhiannon O Rhye and regular driver Jody Jamieson will display their skills against seven other fillies in the third of five Trillium Series divisions on Woodstock Raceway ‘s 1:15 pm program Saturday. In addition to Race 8, the fillies will star in Races 1, 2, 9, and 11.