ELORA, ON — Ontario Sires Stakes excitement returns to Grand River Raceway on Friday evening with seven Grassroots divisions for the two-year-old trotting fillies.

With just two events remaining in the regular season, Terry O’Neill is hoping Pimlico’s Premier can secure enough points Friday to lock up a berth in the Grassroots Semifinal. The filly currently sits just below the cut off for the Top 16 with a total of 57 points earned through one second, two thirds and one fourth in four Grassroots starts.

“She needs some points. I think she’s got to get at least a second in her next two starts,” says O’Neill, who shares ownership on the filly with trainer-driver Trevor Henry of Arthur and John Coffey of Orangeville. “We’ll see what happens on Friday.”

The Arthur resident and his partners bred the daughter of Armbro Pimlico and Totally Conched and have been pleasantly surprised with her success this season.

“She hasn’t made that much, but she’s doing better than we ever expected,” he says, adding that the mare’s first three offspring never even saw a racetrack. “She isn’t very big, but she tries hard.”

A 2:05.4 winner at Clinton Raceway on July 22, Pimlico’s Premier will make her bid for Grassroots points from Post 6 in the fourth race on Friday, the fifth time in her brief career that she will line up on the outer half of the starting gate.

“It doesn’t really help her. She doesn’t seem to want to leave at all,” says O’Neill. “I just wish she had a little more speed.”

Pimlico’s Premier heads into Friday’s test off a lacklustre finish in an overnight event at Grand River last Friday, but O’Neill says the filly seemed bright eyed and bushy tailed Monday.

“I was out there today and jogged her. Trevor thought maybe she might have been a little sick, but she looked okay to me today,” he says. “She had her ears up when I was jogging her and seemed spry.”

Among the fillies that Pimlico’s Premier and Henry will face in Friday’s $15,000 contest are former Grassroots winners Party Hall and C H Meadow Miss, who currently sit fifth and fifteenth in the Grassroots point race.

“She’s in against Party Hall and Nick Henry’s horse, C H Meadow Miss,” says the professional truck driver. “She (C H Meadow Miss) has made two breaks in a row, but they’ve got her qualified and I know if she stays trotting she’s one of the fastest.”

Pimlico’s Premier and her peers square off in the fourth race on Grand River Raceway’s 7:27 pm program Friday. The other six Grassroots divisions are slated as Races 3, 6, 7, 8, 10 and 11.

For a complete list of entries please go to:

http://www.standardbredcanada.ca/entries/data/egrvrfr.html