LONDON, ON — Western Fair Raceway hosts an impressive line up of three-year-old pacing fillies for the final Trillium Series event of the season on Saturday evening. Four fillies who competed in last weekend’s Super Final and three who battled in the Grassroots post season will line up behind the starting gate in two $34,380 Trillium divisions.

Witness To Fame captured the third-place finisher’s share in the Oct. 15 Grassroots Championship, but she and most of her stablemates came down with an equine virus the following week. The Apaches Fame daughter returned to action in a fillies and mares preferred event at Western Fair on Nov. 7, but trainer Bud Sinclair was still not happy with her performance so he opted for another week of rest and says the additional time off seems to have restored the filly’s health in time for Saturday’s Trillium battle.

“I had 19 in the barn and 17 were sick after the (Grassroots) Final,” recalls the Stratford resident. “We didn’t do much with her after the Final. Then she just wasn’t herself in the fillies and mares preferred so I skipped last week, just trained her and tried to get her healthy. We did some blood work and everything is normal again, so hopefully we’ve got her all cleaned up for this week.”

Witness To Fame and regular reinsman Bruce Richardson will start from Post 6 in Saturday’s first race, but Sinclair says the outside post should not be a problem for the winner of $132,091 if she has regained her strength.

“It’s a short field, so if she’s on her game she should be okay,” says the young trainer. “She might get a bridle change too, I haven’t decided yet.”

Sinclair, who shares ownership on the talented filly with Dr. Norman Amos of St. Marys, is considering a shift to an open bridle in an effort to encourage the filly to relax on the front end. The horseman also intends to put a sharp training mile into the filly this week to make sure she is ready to roll Saturday.

“She’ll be trained up a lot harder,” he says. “She’s going to get trained up tight this week.”

Among the fillies that Witness To Fame will meet in Saturday’s first race, which goes postward at 7:35 pm, are Super Final contestant Fannies Fortune from Post 2 and Grassroots Semifinalist Sparky’s Grin, owned by Mark Horner of St. Marys and Dennis Fairall of Windsor, from Post 4.

The other Trillium Series, slated as Race 7, is heavily weighted with Super Final contestants as Lady D M, owned by Parkinson Farms of Lucan, Serenity Seelster and Trace Of Luck, owned by Horner, Fairall and Susan McNeight of St. Marys, will line up side-by-side at Posts 4, 5, and 6.

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