SARNIA, ON — Hiawatha Horse Park wraps up its 2003 Ontario Sires Stakes season on Thursday with the last regular season Grassroots event for the two-year-old pacing fillies.
Among the fillies battling for additional points to secure a berth in the Grassroots post season are a pair owned by local horseman Jim Ainsworth. Ruthie Supreme currently sits tenth in the division standings and should advance to the Grassroots Semifinal with a solid effort in Race 8, while the Sarnia resident expects Sunday Supreme to wrap up her freshman campaign Thursday.
“This will be her last start. We’ll quit with her for the year and maybe race her a little in the winter,” says Ainsworth of Sunday Supreme. “She was kind of a late bloomer.”
The Run The Table daughter has just eight starts on her resume, with one win and seven third-place finishes to her credit. With three third-place results in three Grassroots starts the filly currently sits 26 points behind the top group and would a need a victory from Post 7 in Thursday’s fifth race to extend her season another two weeks.
“She’s got no gate speed, so as long as the front end rolls a little bit she’ll be all right, but if they jam up in front and sprint home she’ll be in trouble,” says Ainsworth, who shares ownership on the filly with trainer-driver Reg Gassien of Lindsay and Claude Pearson of Tilbury. “She lacks a little bit of aggressiveness in the first part of the race.
“Mind you, she’s a lot better than she was at the start. I would have swore she’d never be competitive in the Sires Stakes and she can pace with them,” he adds.
Unlike her stablemate, Ainsworth expects Ruthie Supreme to be able to take full advantage of Post 1 in the eighth race and land near the front of the nine-horse field.
“She’s got a lot of gate speed,” notes Ainsworth. “I don’t know if she’s in soft or tough, but if she gets to the front and they leave her alone for a half mile she’ll be tough to beat.”
The Camluck filly is the first foal out of former Ainsworth superstar Ruthellenkillean, who earned $391,998 before retiring to the broodmare ranks. Martwest Racing Stable of Mississauga and Ross Holmes of Ilderton share ownership on the mare and her daughter with Ainsworth and the trainer admits that so far they have been disappointed with the offspring’s results.
“Looks-wise, they look almost identical, but Ruthie Supreme lacks one-quarter, while her mother had all four quarters,” he says. “She’s been battling sickness, she’s had throat problems, she’s had soundness problems; nothing major, but we just can’t seem to get all our ducks to line up in a row.”
Ainsworth hopes the planets will align on the filly’s behalf so she can deliver a solid result over her hometown oval on Thursday and then advance out of the Oct. 24 Semifinal into the Grassroots Championship at Western Fair Raceway on Oct. 31.
The two-year-old pacing fillies square off in Races 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 on Hiawatha Horse Park’s 7:10 pm program Thursday, with the top 16 point earners through the six regular season events moving on to the Oct. 24 Grassroots Semifinal.