ELORA, ON — All eyes were on two-year-old pacing filly Luck Of Michelle on Monday evening as she returned to Grand River Raceway looking for a Gold Final victory and confirmation of her burgeoning reputation as the Ontario Sires Stakes’ latest phenom.

Leaving from Post 4 with regular reinsman Mike Saftic at the helm the Camluck miss wasted no time claiming her place at the front of the eight filly field. In contrast to their first two outings the duo set a moderate pace to the :29.1 opening quarter and the :59.1 half before picking up the tempo heading for the 1:28 three-quarters.

Canadette sat tucked in behind Luck Of Michelle through the initial stages of the race, but made a break just past the half that allowed Michelles Power to slide down on to the rail behind the prohibitive favourite. As the fillies turned for home Michelles Power was just one and a half lengths behind the pacesetter, but Luck Of Michelle kicked into gear through the stretch and hit the wire three and three-quarter lengths on top in 1:56.3.

Michelles Power earned the second-place cheque, and the honour of finishing closer to Luck Of Michelle than any of her previous rivals, and Real Beauty overcame interference caused by her stablemate Canadette to finish third, eighth and three-quarter lengths behind the winner.

Luck Of Michelle is now flawless through three starts, with a world record mile in her Flamboro Breeders division on June 24, a track record performance in her Gold Elimination at Grand River last Monday and a Gold Final crown. John Pentland trains the talented young pacer for his wife Natalie of Dorchester and Karen Carroll of Shedden.

The third foal of Michelles Destiny, a half-sister to $2.49 million winner Cams Card Shark and four other siblings who earned more than $200,000, Luck Of Michelle led a parade of regally bred Camluck fillies across the wire. Runner-up Michelles Power is the sixth foal of Michelles Jackpot, a full sister to Luck Of Michelle’s mother and the winner of $695,439 in her racing career, and Real Beauty is the fifth foal of $119,208 winner Hidden Beauty.

Yearling buyers missed a pair of bargains at last fall’s sales allowing Luck Of Michelle to be hammered down to Pentland and Carroll for $20,000 US and Real Beauty to be bought back by her breeder James Avritt of Lebanon, KY for a mere $10,000. Michelles Power was bred and is owned by Jeffrey Snyder of New York, NY. After just three starts Luck Of Michelle has earned $95,881, Michelles Power has banked $53,334 and Real Beauty has cashed purse cheques totalling $39,170.

Luck Of Michelle will put her star status on the line next Monday, July 17 at Mohawk Racetrack as the two-year-old pacing fillies meet for the third straight week in Gold Series action.

The next track record in jeopardy at Grand River Raceway belongs to the two-year-old trotting colts, who will arrive at the Elora oval on Monday, July 31 for their third set of Gold Series Eliminations leading up to a $130,000 Gold Final on the track’s popular Aug. 7 Industry Day card.

For complete results please go to:

http://www.standardbredcanada.ca/results/data/rgrvrmo.html#N9