ELORA, ON — Spun Sugar rocked to a 1:56.2 victory at Grand River Raceway on Tuesday evening to wrap up the Grassroots regular season with a perfect record of three wins in three starts.
The two-year-old pacing filly and driver Mario Baillargeon carved out all the fractions from Post 2, hitting the quarter in :27.4, the half in :56 and the three-quarters in 1:25.3 before sailing home to the nine and one-quarter length victory over Exquisite Alberta and Lil Motion.
Ben Wallace trains Spun Sugar for Bradley Grant of Milton, who acquired the talented young pacer from the Carl Jamieson consignment at the Aug. 26 Summer Sizzler Sale for $53,000. Tuesday’s victory and a third-place finish in the Sept. 2 Trillium Series at Flamboro Downs have already returned $11,870 of Grant’s investment and have locked up the Camluck daughter’s spot in the Sept. 30 Grassroots Semifinals at Flamboro.
Secret Grin secured her position atop the division standings with a 1:57.3 score in the last of six $17,403 divisions. The Grinfromeartoear daughter and driver Robert Shepherd eased away from the trailing Post 9 and allowed Sammy Syd to lead the field through fractions of :29, :59.1 and 1:28.1. Heading toward the three-quarters Shepherd fired Secret Grin up on the outside and the talented young pacer was one and a half lengths on top before the fillies turned for home.
Secret Grin maintained her one and a half length margin to the wire, easily holding off Literacy, while a tired Sammy Syd finished eight lengths back in third.
The win improved Secret Grin’s freshman record to five wins in seven starts for owners Mardon Stables of Loretto and trainer Bruce MacDonald. With four wins and one fifth in five Grassroots starts the filly finished up the regular season with a total of 205 points, 43 ahead of Amyng For Gold, who was also a winner at Grand River on Tuesday.
Like Spun Sugar, Amyng For Gold took full advantage of Post 2 and powered straight to the front of the nine filly field. With Phil Hudon at the helm for trainer John Curran and owner Kenneth Curran of Coldwater, Amyng For Gold cruised through fractions of :29.1, 1:00 and 1:29.1 before hitting the wire in 1:59.
Dalona Killean paced into second, leaving fan favourite Fysia to settle for third.
The other Grassroots divisions went to Mystically in 1:58.2, Coastal Living in 1:58.2 and Magic Maverick in 1:57.4.
The top 16 point earners now make their way to Flamboro Downs on Sept. 30 for a pair of $30,000 Semifinals. The top four finishers from each Semifinal will then compete in the $100,000 Grassroots Championship at Flamboro on Oct. 7.
Tuesday’s event also wrapped up Grand River Raceway’s 2006 Ontario Sires Stakes season, which saw track record performances from the two-year-old pacing fillies, two-year-old trotting colts, three-year-old pacing fillies and three-year-old trotting colts. The provincial program will return to the Elora oval in 2007 with a fresh crop of young trotters and pacers eager to make their mark on the track’s history books.
For complete results please go to:
http://www.standardbredcanada.ca/results/data/rgrvrtu.html