INNISFIL, ON — In spite of the weather and less than favourable track conditions, the three-year-old pacing fillies delivered impressive performances on Saturday evening to wrap up Georgian Downs’ 2003 Ontario Sires Stakes season.
Clinton Raceway track record holder Feathery Fame continued her Grassroots hot streak with an authoritative victory in the eighth race. The Apaches Fame daughter and driver Stuart Sowerby dominated the competition from start to finish in the 1:56.4 mile, reaching the wire three and a quarter lengths up on Shami Cami and Tribute To Heroes.
Gregg McNair trains the talented Feathery Fame for his mother Gwendolyn McNair of Walkerton, who also bred the winner of $118,581. With a record of three wins and one second in four Grassroots starts the Apaches Fame daughter wrapped up the regular season with 175 points and sole ownership of second spot in the division standings.
Driver Mark MacDonald scored a Grassroots double, piloting Bonita Grande and Ivory Key to victory in the third and fifth races. The young reinsman sent Bonita Grande to the front from Post 5 and the Camluck lass paced through fractions of :27.1, :58.1 and 1:27.3 on her way to the 1:57.4 victory over Courtneys Barbie and favourite Gowen Away.
The win was the fifth of the season for Bonita Grande, but her only one in Grassroots action, leaving her sitting on the sidelines heading in to the Oct. 26 Grassroots Semifinals at Flamboro Downs. Elmer Conway trains the filly for Tonya Watkins of Goodells, MI.
Leaving from Post 5 with Ivory Key two races later, MacDonald opted for a similar strategy, heading to the front just past the quarter pole and pulling away to a three and a quarter victory in the stretch. The Camluck daughter, trained by Mark Steacy for Stan Klemencic of Trenton and David Reid of Kingston, tripped the Georgian Downs teletimer at 1:57 to record the victory over Apaches Angel and Historic Kane. The former Gold Series combatant also failed to advance to the post season.
Former Gold Final winner Lucky Irma vaulted into the Semifinal with a 1:56.4 victory in the last Grassroots division, using the favoured front-end tactic to score a three-quarter length victory over Shes So Lucky and Doctor Ruth. William MacTavish trains Lucky Irma for owner-breeder John Christensen of Scarborough and regular reinsman Dave Boughton was in the race bike for the Camluck filly’s fifth win of the season.
The other two division winners, Im Half Nukes (1:58) and O See My Bo (1:57.4) also secured spots in the top 16 and will advance to the Grassroots Semifinals at Flamboro on Oct. 26. The top four finishers from each of the two Semifinals will then compete in the Nov. 2 Grassroots Championship.
The three-year-old pacing fillies completed an outstanding season of Ontario Sires Stakes action at Georgian Downs that saw the Innisfil oval host two Trillium Series events, six Grassroots and a Gold Final. The OSS program looks forward to another exciting season of racing at Georgian Downs in 2004 when a fresh crop of trotters and pacers will be eager to make their mark in the track’s history books.