LONDON, ON — Having set Ontario Sires Stakes speed records over seven-eighths and five-eighths mile ovals in their first four Gold Series starts, the province’s remarkably gifted two-year-old trotting fillies will take aim on the half-mile OSS record when they gather at Western Fair Raceway this Friday, Oct. 5 for a trio of $35,399 Gold Eliminations.

In Fine Form heads into Friday’s test off a third-place finish in the Sept. 29 Gold Final at Mohawk Racetrack, and while trainer William Hamm is not predicting that the Striking Sahbra daughter will challenge any speed records, he says the filly is, in fact, in fine form.

“She’s just coming into her own,” says the Wallacetown resident, who shares ownership on the novice trotter with Craig Turner and Mhairi Kersel of Ingersoll. “I think some of those other fillies are getting tired, and she’s really fresh. If she could sneak into the Super Final she might be able to give those fillies a run for their money.”

With three thirds and one fifth in her first six Gold Series starts, In Fine Form has accumulated 41 points, which is currently 14 points shy of a berth in the $300,000 Super Final at Woodbine Racetrack. Only the top 10 point earners will compete in the Nov. 10 season finale.

Whether she makes it through to the post season or not, Hamm says In Fine Form has already given him, Turner and Kersel far more enjoyment than they expected when they purchased her out of the Forest City Sale last fall.

“She wouldn’t go into the sales ring, that’s why we own her,” admits Hamm, with a chuckle. “You know how the sales ring is, just constant noise, well everything just became quiet and for 10 minutes she wouldn’t go in the ring. Finally Harry (Rutherford) led another horse up in front of her and that was how he got her in the ring.

“Craig elbowed me and said, �Do you still want her’ and I thought, her dam is a half-sister to Balanced Image and I am never going to have another chance at a horse of this quality, so I said, �Yup.'”

Bidding halted at $18,000 and Hamm, Turner and Kersel gleefully shipped the filly to her new home in Wallacetown to begin her early education. Although the daughter of Streamlined — a Speedy Crown sister to the late Balanced Image — was not easy to train, Hamm says he has always admired her feisty attitude.

“She was the nastiest horse I ever broke,” he recalls. “But once we got her going she just took off, she was just a natural. I wish I could say it had something to do with me, that I did this, or I did that, but good horses are like that — natural.

“She’s still got a little attitude, that’s all I can say. She’s got her own personality. I don’t know how to describe her, she’s her own horse,” he continues. “I think most good horses, they have that. That’s what makes them good, that bit of fire.”

In Fine Form will put that fire to good use from Post 3 in the second race on Friday, facing off against a tough field that includes former Gold Final winners Torch and Dornello from Posts 4 and 5.

The other Gold Eliminations go postward as Races 1 and 5 on Western Fair Raceway’s Friday evening program, which begins at 7:35 pm. The top three finishers from each elimination will return to London on Oct. 12 for their last $130,000 Gold Final.

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