DUNDAS, ON — Heading into Friday evening’s $130,000 Gold Final driver Jody Jamieson knows he and Taylor Lynne are in for a stiff battle, but the Dundas resident is confident that the two-year-old pacing filly will be up to the challenge.
Although the pair easily captured their elimination last week, pacing to a 2:01 victory over a sloppy track rated three seconds slower than normal, Jamieson notes that Taylor Lynne was not at her best after making just two starts in the six week interval since the last Ontario Sires Stakes Gold event. With the elimination and a solid training trip under her belt this week, the 26-year-old reinsman is confident that the Fit For Life daughter will be in fighting trim for Friday’s contest.
“She was a little short the other day, it had been a couple of weeks since her last race and my Dad hadn’t trained her too hard, so it was like a training trip for her,” says Jamieson, who drives the filly for his father Carl Jamieson of Princeton, Gerald Rattray of Hamilton, Jerry Jamieson of Blenheim and Arthur Slack of Cumbria, England. “She trained really good this week.”
Jamieson and Taylor Lynne will make their bid for a second Gold Final victory from Post 5 in Friday’s ninth race, and while last week’s victory was a wire-to-wire affair, the young reinsman knows a different strategy might be in order for the Final.
“The other day I put her on the front because I thought we were the best. Whether I’ll do that again or not I don’t know. She’s very aggressive, but you can still take her back,” he says. “She doesn’t care where she races from, she just likes to pass horses.”
The filly’s determination and desire have earned her a record of four wins, three seconds and one third through 10 starts for earnings of $197,185 and a runaway lead atop the division point standings. A trio of Gold Elimination wins and the July 22 Gold Final victory earned Taylor Lynne a total of 245 points, 70 points ahead of rivals Double Creme and Los Angeles.
In recent years the Jamieson Stable has produced several outstanding freshman pacing fillies, including the 2000 division winner Cupcakesnwhipcream, and Jody Jamieson says Taylor Lynne compares favourably to those youngsters at this stage in her career.
“She’s good enough to draw comparisons to Cupcakesnwhipcream and Grand Romance, and even Elegant Killean,” he says. “The competition has come up so much since those days, but she’s certainly comparable to those fillies on raw talent.
“And she’s a big, tall filly so I think she’ll last a little longer than say Cupcakes. And if I can get a few more trips like I did last week into her that will certainly help her out,” he adds.
Among the other fillies Jamieson will have his eye on in Friday’s Final are elimination winner Serious Comfort from Post 2, former Gold Final winner Double Creme from Post 1 and the consistent A And Gs Rockette from Post 3.
Flamboro Downs’s first race goes postward at 2:45 pm on Friday, with Taylor Lynne and her peers competing for Gold Final glory in Race 9.