CAMPBELLVILLE, ON — July marks the start of the two-year-old Ontario Sires Stakes season and Mohawk Racetrack fans will get their first glimpse of the freshman trotting fillies in Gold Elimination action on Tuesday evening.
Four divisions of young trotters will vie for a total of $109,324 and trainer Scott McEneny hopes Blueridge Yankee can mind her manners and earn a share of the OSS lucre.
“You never know what two-year-old trotting fillies are going to do,” says the Waterdown resident. “But if you can keep a two-year-old filly trotting, you can usually get some money.”
Until recently McEneny never imagined Blueridge Yankee would even see a Gold Elimination, never mind have a chance at earning a cheque. The high strung youngster tried his patience endlessly, right up until the point in her training regimen where she had to start producing some speed.
“I never really liked her; she was hard to like,” admits McEneny, who shares ownership of the Striking Sahbra daughter with Whitesand Valley Stables Inc. of Orillia. “She’s been better lately, about the last six weeks, since we started going a little faster.”
Among the keys to the filly’s development was the addition of Roger Mayotte to her team. The veteran reinsman, noted for his quiet presence in the race bike, has been instrumental in keeping the temperamental youngster focused on her game.
“I hooked her up with Roger, hopefully we can keep one driver, and he’s been pretty careful with her,” says McEneny. “He hasn’t got too excited with her yet, we just want to keep her doing it right. I think, down the road, she’ll get to be a nice filly.”
Mayotte will send the filly after a share of the Gold Elimination purse from Post 5 in Race 1 and McEneny hopes the experience is a positive one for Blueridge Yankee.
“I think she’ll be okay behind the car. She schooled behind the car before,” he says. “But it will be night-time, with all the people in the grandstand, so it’s probably going to be different for her.”
A $13,000 US purchase at last fall’s Kentucky Standardbred Yearling Sale, Blueridge Yankee is one of five fillies by first year sire Striking Sahbra in her elimination and one of a remarkable 12 among the 38 fillies competing on Tuesday evening.
Blueridge Yankee and her peers in the first elimination will kick things off at 7:20 pm on Tuesday. The other three Gold Eliminations are featured in Races 2, 4, and 6 on the Mohawk Racetrack program. The top two finishers from each elimination, plus two third-place finishers selected by random draw, will return to the Campbellville oval on July 11 for the first of five $130,000 Gold Finals on their schedule this season.
For a complete list of entries please go to:
http://www.standardbredcanada.ca/entries/data/emohstu.html