ELORA, ON — When the two-year-old pacing fillies arrive at Grand River Raceway on Tuesday, Crazy She Calls Me and her connections may be the most relaxed group on the grounds.

Making her Grassroots debut, and just her second lifetime start, Crazy She Calls Me has no chance at a spot in the Grassroots Semifinal and her owners are simply taking advantage of the event’s location and timing to give their young pacer a start against her peers.

“We just took advantage of the fact that she was eligible,” says trainer Duane Marfisi. “We know we’re not making any Semifinal, but we thought we’d take a shot.”

In fact, Marfisi was pleased to see Crazy She Calls Me draw in against a pair of fillies that are currently ranked among the top 16 in the division.

“We can compare how my filly is against them,” notes the Guelph resident, who shares ownership on Crazy She Calls Me with Offshore Racing of Burlington, Aaron Waxman of Hamilton and Alan Alber of Thornhill.

Heading into the Ontario Sires Stakes season Marfisi and his partners thought Crazy She Calls Me could be a serious contender on the provincial circuit, but when the filly came down with an equine virus in June they put those plans on hold and concentrated on returning the daughter of Mach Three and Misty Dallas to full health.

“She trained down very good, but she was sick the whole month of June,” recalls Marfisi. “It took a long time to get her healthy, then it took me a month to get her back training like she was before.

“The owners have been very good, very patient with her sickness,” he adds. “They are just going to let me manage her and play things by ear.”

Once the filly was back on track Marfisi put her in to qualify at Mohawk Racetrack on Aug. 25 and Crazy She Calls Me delivered a 2:01.3 runner-up effort over a sloppy racetrack rated two seconds slower than normal. Eleven days later the filly made her racing debut at Grand River and cruised to an effortless 2:02.2 victory over another surface rated two seconds off.

“I expected her to win her first start,” admits Marfisi. “She shows ability and she’s got a good head on her shoulders. She’s got a great gait too.”

Crazy She Calls Me will test her burgeoning skills against eight Grassroots veterans from Post 6 in the first $17,403 division on Tuesday. With Brad Forward in the race bike the half-sister to $203,022 Lady Camella will match wits with Spun Sugar, who is undefeated through two Grassroots starts and gets Post 2, and Lil Motion, who currently sits second in the division standings and will start from the trailing Post 9.

Post time at Grand River Raceway on Tuesday, Sept. 19 is 7:30 pm with the two-year-old pacing fillies squaring off in their last regular season Grassroots event in Races 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, and 11.

For complete entries please go to:

http://www.standardbred5canada.ca/entries/data/egrvrtu.html