CAMPBELLVILLE, ON — Last Monday at Mohawk Racetrack, Brad Maxwell enjoyed the kind of night trainers dream about, sweeping a pair of Gold Series Eliminations with three-year-old trotting fillies Pure Ivory and Meadowview Tiffy.

The fillies return to Mohawk Racetrack this Monday, Aug. 14 for their $130,000 Gold Final, but Maxwell is not expecting the same sort of result. While Pure Ivory will start from Post 4, Meadowview Tiffy has been saddled with Post 10 for the second time in two weeks.

“That was one of those nights you hope to have once in a while,” says Maxwell, who watched Pure Ivory coast home in 1:56.2 and Meadowview Tiffy score her first win of the season with a 1:56.1 effort.

“Pure Ivory is starting to relax in her races now, she’s not so excited,” says the Cambridge resident. “And the other mare raced great. She’s a really, really nice mare, she just has no luck.”

Pure Ivory heads into Monday’s contest as the reigning Gold Final champion and boasts a record of six wins through nine starts. Although her season got off to a slightly rocky start, with breaks in both the June 2 Casual Breeze and June 9 Elegantimage Eliminations, she has only been bested once in her last seven starts.

“She was very aggressive when she came back. She wanted to go fast right off the bat,” explains Maxwell, who trains Pure Ivory for his wife Christina Maxwell of Cambridge, driver Steve Condren of Milton, breeder Harry Rutherford of Mount Pleasant and Jerry Vanboekel of Bright. “It’s hard to qualify them in 2:00 and then have them go in 1:55 their first start.”

Now that she has settled into a rhythm, Maxwell says the daughter of Striking Sahbra daughter and former Gold Series star Image Control is a delight to take to the racetrack.

“She’s all racehorse when you go down to the track. She likes to race,” he notes. “That’s why I like her so much; she’s very professional at the racetrack. She gets herself geared up in the afternoon, she knows she’s racing.”

Pure Ivory’s success has been buoyed by a case of very good luck. Through nine races she has not started farther away from the rail than Post 5, unlike Meadowview Tiffy, who will see the outside of the racetrack for the third time in five weeks on Monday.

“I feel sorry for that owner and sorry for that mare,” says Maxwell. “I really like her. I’ve been waiting for her to do something great, but she’s just had no luck.”

A full sister to former Ontario Sires Stakes champion Meadowview Sunny, the daughter of Angus Hall and Frisky Mitchelle is owned by breeder Charles Reid’s Meadowview Farms Inc. of Orono. Through nine starts Meadowview Tiffy has amassed a record of one win, two seconds and one third for earnings of $81,256.

“She’s a really nice mare,” says Maxwell. “She’s big gaited and twice as big as Ivory.”

The differences between the two fillies extend beyond their size. While they share a trailer to each stake event, they see very little of each other between races. While Pure Ivory gets a regular routine of jogging and training, Maxwell and his staff concentrate on keeping things low key for Meadowview Tiffy.

“She’s a big, strong filly and she gets aggressive at the farm track,” explains the trainer. “I don’t train her too much; we mostly try and keep her quiet.

“They’re both really nice in the barn,” he adds. “My wife looks after them and she likes them both.”

Pure Ivory and Meadowview Tiffy will tackle their three-year-old trotting filly peers in Race 5 on Monday. Mohawk Racetrack’s first race goes in behind the starting gate at 7:20 pm.

For complete entries please go to:

http://www.standardbredcanada.ca/entries/data/emohsmo.html#N5