SARNIA, ON — On a night when track records across the province fell like rain on a parched summer lawn, Hiawatha Horse Park was no exception. The three-year-old trotting fillies wiped out the record in their first Grassroots division and slashed it again in the second.
Our Pleasure opened the speed-filled program with a 1:59 victory in the first race, lowering Casual Breeze’s 2000 record by one-fifth of a second. The Super Pleasure daughter and Jacques Beaudoin led the field wire-to-wire through fractions of :29, 1:00 and 1:29.3 en route to the victory, their second in Grassroots action this season.
Richard Sullivan of Greely owns Our Pleasure and Gilles Beaudoin handles training duties on the winner of $39,742.
Ill Be Jazzy and Ion Rouge finished four and a half and seven lengths behind Our Pleasure in the record setting mile.
One race later Hiawatha fans were on their feet again as Crown Lavec scorched around the five-eighths mile oval in 1:58.1 to lower the record for the second time. Leaving from Post 9 the Mr Lavec daughter and Wally McIlmurray were in high gear from the start, going straight to the front and building their lead to five lengths by the finish.
Johnston Cup winner Bob McIntosh of Windsor trains Crown Lavec for Martin Sternberg of Brookville, NY and Alvin Katz of Roslyn Heights, NY. The winner of $190,479 has struggled to find her provincial niche this season, beginning with an unsuccessful start in the Gold Series and now moving into the Grassroots.
Love That Redhead and Gramolas Image duked it out down the stretch for the runner-up positions with Love That Redhead hanging on to second by a quarter length.
The wire-to-wire strategy had worked so well for his peers Bill Gale decided to give it a try in the third division and piloted Aspasia to a 1:59 victory, her third of the season. Trainer Charalambos Christoforou owns the Earl daughter, who was making just her fifth lifetime start.
Alexa Lou and Sing Out Hanover finished side by side behind Aspasia with Alexa Lou getting the nod for second.
The fourth division also went faster than the former track record of 1:59.1, with Chelemark Misty earning her first win in her second lifetime start. Brad Maxwell trains the Balanced Image daughter for breeder Doug Millard, Mark Millard and Charles Eden of Woodstock. Equine Grace and Grand Tiara finished second and thrid in the 1:59 mile.
The other two divisions went to Ava Hall in 2:02.1 and Zola Smiger in 1:59.3. The sophomore trotting fillies make their third Grassroots start at Elmira Raceway on August 16 and head back to Hiawatha Horse Park for their third Gold Series event on Saturday, Aug. 10.