CAMPBELLVILLE, ON — Freshman pacing filly Titanic Rose will make her bid for a second Gold Elimination win at Mohawk Racetrack on Monday, July 17 under the tutelage of the man who trained both of her parents.
“I liked the filly and I’m obviously connected to the family pretty close,” says Ben Wallace. ” I thought, if I don’t buy her, I shouldn’t be buying any horse.”
Wallace trained Titanic Rose’s sire Camotion to a $1.9 million career and her mother Armbro Rosebud to earnings of $721,057. The crowd assembled around the sales ring at last fall’s Forest City Yearling Sale would have been surprised if the Milton resident had not been the final bidder on the young pacer, who was hammered down to Wallace and partner James Millier of Dorchester for $11,000, but once the regally bred filly arrived in his barn Wallace wondered if his nostalgic investment had been a wise one.
“Actually, you know, she was very unimpressive,” says the horseman, who had several other two-year-old pacing fillies ranked much higher than Titanic Rose all winter. “It wasn’t until the spring of the year, when we started asking for speed, that she really showed anything.
“But her mother was a tough girl too. We literally had to drag her around for two months before she’d do anything but walk,” he recalls. “And a little bit of that is not a bad thing when you are looking long term.”
After Titanic Rose started to show some signs of ability, Wallace sent her to Mohawk Racetrack for a June 10 qualifier where the filly delivered a solid 2:01.1 effort and launched herself to the head of the class.
“The other three just didn’t show, when push came to shove, that they would go ahead, and she acted like she might,” he explains. “She showed up in the spring.”
Titanic Rose made her debut in a two-year-old filly event at Flamboro Downs on June 17, finishing second in a 1:58.2 mile to Michelles Power. One week later she was back at the Dundas oval for a Flamboro Breeders event and was second once again. Making her Gold Series debut at Grand River Raceway on July 3 the filly stepped up and won her elimination with a gate-to-wire effort in 1:59.1, then got bounced around in the July 10 Final and finished sixth.
“She’s a bit of an overachiever,” says Wallace. “And I think we kind of over extended her in the Final. Mario (Baillargeon) ended up first up against Luck Of Michelle.”
Baillargeon and Titanic Rose will try and add another elimination trophy to their collection from Post 3 in the second of three $37,827 eliminations at Mohawk on Monday and Wallace was pleased to draw away from Luck Of Michelle, who set a world record in her June 24 Flamboro Breeders event and a track record at Grand River Raceway in her Gold Elimination.
“I think the fillies are, across the board, a tougher group than the colts right now,” opines Wallace. “There are a group of fillies that could shine in Grand Circuit races, and I don’t see that in the colts.”
Luck Of Michelle will take a shot at Mohawk Racetrack’s speed record from Post 2 in the third elimination Monday. The reigning Gold Final winner is flawless through three starts and has bested her competition thus far by a total of 28 lengths.
Mohawk Racetrack fans can catch the two-year-old pacing fillies in Races 2, 5, and 7 on Monday’s program, which gets under way at 7:20 pm. The top three fillies in each elimination, plus one fourth-place finisher drawn by lot, will return to the Campbellville oval on Monday, July 24 for their second crack at a $130,000 Gold Final trophy.
For complete entries please go to:
http://www.standardbredcanada.ca/entries/data/emohsmo.html