CAMPBELLVILLE, ON — When Milliondollarsmile rolls up behind the gate at Mohawk Racetrack on Monday, three generations of horse owners from the Wright family will be standing at the rail ready to cheer her home.

Seventy-seven year old Morris Wright, his 47 year old son Brett Wright, and his 12 year old grandson Connor Wright have not missed any of the three-year-old pacing filly’s starts this season, and they do not intend to miss Monday’s Gold Final.

“We’ve never missed a race, my son, me or Connor,” says Morris Wright. “When she raced in Ottawa (Aug. 10) the three of us went for the weekend. It was a lovely trip.”

Last Monday the family watched Milliondollarsmile deliver an impressive runner-up performance at Mohawk in the Gold Elimination, her first start since the Rideau Carleton Raceway Gold Final, and the elder Wright is convinced the filly will be even better this week. She missed four weeks while battling a respiratory infection, but seems to have bounced right back to the form that saw her win four straight at the Campbellville oval through the month of July, including the July 1 Gold Final, a leg of the Town Pro Series, and her elimination and the final of the Canadian Breeders Championship.

“She was pretty sick after the Rideau race. She had over a month off,” explains the longtime owner. “If I had to do it over, my first intuition up in Ottawa was to scratch her. They assured me that she was fine, she just had a very slight temperature, and she warmed up okay and still raced well, but when we got her home she was very sick.”

In preparation for last week’s Gold Elimination, trainer Shawn Robinson tested the filly in a Sept. 3 qualifier and Milliondollarsmile delivered a six length victory in 1:53.1. She hit the wire in 1:50.4 last week and Wright hopes she will better that from Post 4 in Monday’s Gold Final.

“She’s going to race better Monday night,” predicts the elder Wright. “I was really proud of her last week.”

Wright says the daughter of Million Dollar Cam and Hilarious has evolved into a far better filly than he thought he was getting for the $47,000 US he spent at the 2005 Harrisburg Yearling Sale. As a two-year-old Milliondollarsmile made just four starts, recording one fourth, two seconds and one fifth from a series of outside posts, and wrapped up her campaign in mid July.

This season the filly captured a pair of overnight events and a leg of the Ontario Spring Series at Woodbine Racetrack before making her sophomore Ontario Sires Stakes debut in the Gold Series season opener at Western Fair Raceway. Hampered by Post 6 in both the elimination and final she finished fourth and sixth, but since then she has not been worse than third in eight starts.

“We knew she was good last year, we knew she was very good, but not as good as she is,” admits Wright. “We’re very proud of her. She’s done everything we wanted, plus.”

Wright adds that, had he known Milliondollarsmile would step up her game at three, he might have looked beyond the borders of Ontario for stakes engagements.

“What we did, my son and I mapped out her schedule, and because we bought OSS, we said we’re not going to race her against anything other than, and we weren’t going to send her out of town,” he recalls. “Had we known how good she was, we might have done something different.”

In spite of her limited opportunities, Milliondollarsmile has still managed to earn $308,452 in 15 starts this season, scoring seven wins, three seconds and three thirds. She and regular reinsman Randy Waples will try and add to that impressive resume from Post 4 in Monday’s fifth race. Elimination winner, and Ontario Sires Stakes record holder, Michelles Power will start from Post 2 in the $130,000 contest.

Post time at Mohawk Racetrack on Monday is 7:20 pm, and the three-year-old pacing fillies square off in their second last Gold Final battle in Race 5.

For complete entries please go to:

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