CAMPBELLVILLE, ON — After watching from the sidelines through the first three Gold Series events, trainer Jack Remmerswaal is grateful Sportyportia is in Monday’s $130,000 Gold Final at Mohawk Racetrack, in spite of the fact that the three-year-old trotting filly will be handicapped by the outside Post 10.

“It just made me sick to watch all the Gold’s go by and know how competitive she was with all of them,” recalls Remmerswaal. “I thought she’d be a Gold filly, I thought she belonged.”

The Puslinch resident’s conviction that Sportyportia belonged with the Gold Series fillies stemmed from the success she enjoyed in April and May, when she scored a runner-up finish in a leg of the Celias Counsel Series at Woodbine Racetrack, a fourth in the Celias Counsel final, and a second in a Flamboro Breeders Stake division. Unraced at two, Sportyportia made steady progress through her first six starts, but her early season was cut short when she suffered a minor injury to one knee.

While her peers battled in the first two Gold Series events the daughter of Striking Sahbra and Photo From Home was recuperating, and when they squared off in the third event in August she was just getting ready to qualify. She made her first start in three months at Mohawk Racetrack on Sept. 6 and finished a solid third in the non-winners of two races contest.

In an overnight event at Georgian Downs on Sept. 15 Sportyportia made her first visit to the winner’s circle with a 1:59.4 effort, and Remmerswaal readied her entry for last week’s Gold Elimination. Making her Ontario Sires Stakes debut from Post 3 in the $55,445 contest, Sportyportia and driver Phil Hudon delivered an impressive come from behind victory in a smart 1:57.4.

“She’s a very nice filly, she always has been,” says Remmerswaal, who trains the novice trotter for Ned and Belinda Gvoich’s KOR Stable Limited of Guelph. “She’s from a really nice family; she’s really smart and a very good looking filly.”

Five of the filly’s siblings have earned more than $100,000, including former Ontario Sires Stakes standout For The Luva Moni, who earned $573,109 for an ownership group that included Ned Gvoich.

Sportyportia will be handicapped by the outside Post 10 in Monday’s Gold Final, while the other elimination winner, Brigham Dream, gets Post 6, but Remmerswaal is not willing to concede the race.

“She’ll need some racing luck,” says the veteran trainer. “But she’ll be coming at the end. I’m just hoping the race will set up right for her. She needs a quicker half and more flow in the race.

“She’s got some talent and she tries,” he adds. “I think she can beat them with the right trip.”

Among the other fillies starting between Sportyportia and the rail are former Gold Final winners Carolyn AS and Caught My Eye, who drew Posts 4 and 8 respectively.

The three-year-old trotting fillies will wage their Gold Final battle in Race 5 on Mohawk Racetrack’s Monday evening program. The first race rolls up behind the starting gate at 7:20 pm.

For complete entries please go to:

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