WINDSOR, ON — After a six-week break from Ontario Sires Stakes competition the exceptional two-year-old pacing fillies return to Gold Series action at Windsor Raceway on Sunday evening.
Leading the talented young pacers into the fourth of five Gold Series events is Northern Harmony, who sits atop the division standings with a total of 250 points from five wins in six provincial starts. During the Ontario Sires Stakes hiatus Northern Harmony added two more wins to her resume in the Robert Stewart Stakes on Aug. 16 and a Flamboro Breeders division on Aug. 31 before enjoying a mid-season vacation at trainer Bill Robinson’s Hagersville farm.
The Run The Table lass will attempt to stretch her current win streak to five from Post 6 in Windsor Raceway’s sixth race on Sunday. Regular driver Randy Waples will be in the race bike for owners Gerrie Tucker of Montreal, QC, Sampson Street Stables of Old Forge, PA, Don Bray of Newcastle, ON and Angelo Dinardo of Etobicoke, ON.
Unlike Robinson, trainer Bob McIntosh opted to give his filly, Please Me Please, a break immediately after the Aug. 9 Gold Final. She returned to racing action with a win in the Aug. 31 Flamboro Breeders Stake and followed that up with a fourth-place finish in the Sept. 6 Champlain Stakes and a personal best 1:53.4 win in the Sept. 13 Harvest Stakes at Mohawk Racetrack.
“She’s been a pretty good filly all year long, but she seems to be coming into her own right now,” says McIntosh. “She’s an honest filly. Her mother (Artistic Pleasure) was a pretty good mare, she made about $400,000, so she has a license to be good.”
The Windsor resident bred and owns Please Me Please in partnership with Al McIntosh Holdings Inc. of Leamington, ON and Dwight Stacey of Mitchell, ON. Since her racing debut in mid-July Please Me Please has recorded two seconds, one third and one fourth-place finish in Gold Series action for a total of 70 points, good enough for sole ownership of fourth spot in the division standings.
Chris Christoforou will steer the Camluck daughter from Post 3 in the eighth race and the duo are expected to be one of the favourites over the five-eighths mile oval.
“That’s a good draw,” says McIntosh. “She’s better on a big track. A half-mile track is not really her thing. The big track picks her up.”
Please Me Please will face Town Jiffy, who currently sits third in the point standings, from Post 6 in the eighth race, but the other six contestants sit below the current cut off for the post season or are making their Gold Series debut.
In the highly competitive first elimination, Race 6, five of the seven fillies are ranked in the top ten. In addition to Northern Harmony, Race 6 features number two point earner The Patriot (Post 5), fifth-place Tribute To Heroes (Post 3), sixth-place Jasper Avenue (Post 4) and ninth-place Shami Cami (Post 2).
Windsor Raceway issues the first call to the post at 6:30 pm on Sunday and the exciting two-year-old pacing fillies will bring area fans to their feet in Races 6 and 8. The top four finishers from each elimination, plus one fifth-place finisher drawn by lot, will return to Windsor on Sept. 29 for their $130,000 Gold Final.