CAMPBELLVILLE, ON — After spending the last six weeks battling the best in North America, Ontario’s finest two-year-old pacing fillies return to Sires Stakes action at Mohawk Racetrack on Thursday.
Division leader Lucks Mistress and reigning Gold Final champion She’s Almost Famous headline a pair of Gold Eliminations, which will see the top five finishers return to the Campbellville oval on Oct. 2 for their fourth $130,000 Gold Final. Hoping to make her second appearance in a lucrative Final is Gregg McNair trainee Claire’s Apache, who will start from Post 2 in the second Elimination.
“She drew good,” says the Guelph resident. “I’d say it’s the easier of the two divisions, but she’s not in easy by any means. She’s in with that one of Jeff Gillis’ (She’s Almost Famous) that is probably the first or second best in the Sires Stakes right now.”
Claire’s Apache started off the season with a Gold Elimination victory at Woodbine Racetrack on July 1 and followed it up with a second-place finish in the July 8 Final. A tough trip in the July 20 elimination at Kawartha Downs landed the filly in fifth spot, two-fifths of a second shy of a berth in the Final, and McNair opted to skip the third Gold Series at the request of his co-owner Ian Fleming of Londesborough.
“We could have raced her at Sarnia, but Ian would just as soon we didn’t, with him being the Race Secretary over there,” explains McNair.
“We’ve had horses together off and on for close to 20 years, me and Ian, and I think she’s the first one we’ve had any luck with. He’s a pretty good owner for putting up with me this long,” adds the trainer, with a chuckle.
After her month long vacation from the races Claire’s Apache made her fourth start in the Robert Stewart Stakes at Woodbine on Aug. 20 and a lacklustre effort highlighted by a break in stride prompted McNair to subject the Apaches Fame daughter to a thorough work up by his veterinarian.
“We found out what was bothering her and we’ve been treating it,” says the trainer. “We’re trying to get her fixed up. She’s a little hard on herself.”
McNair says the filly is a handful on the racetrack, adding that the style of her early races may have contributed to her health woes at the midway point in the season.
“We raced her a little hard there early. She’s a little on the hot side and we left with her a couple times and she’s been kind of leaving with us ever since,” he says. “She’s not a real nice mare to drive. She can get a little heavy headed.”
Claire’s Apache is the daughter of Armbro Vertical and the grand daughter of Down Time, both mares that McNair campaigned. The trainer has worked with several other horses from the family tree, and says genetics are the only thing the filly has in common with her ancestors.
“I’ve had quite a few out of that family, but there haven’t been any just quite like her,” he says. “She’s a nice mare at home, but she gets a little wound up when you take her away to the track.”
McNair and driver Mike Saftic will be working on keeping the filly composed for Thursday’s battle, hoping to land in next week’s lucrative Final and strengthen their position in the top 10 with the $300,000 Super Final coming up on Nov. 13.
Mohawk Racetrack’s first race gets under way at 7:40 pm on Thursday with the two-year-old pacing fillies spotlighted in Races 2 and 6. The top five finishers from each Gold Elimination will return to Mohawk on Saturday, Oct. 2 for their fourth $130,000 Gold Final.