INNISFIL, ON — In the spring Casie Coleman thought Stacer The Racer was a heavyweight contender for the three-year-old pacing filly title, but things did not work out quite as planned and the filly will get just one opportunity to prove her mettle, squaring off in the last Gold Elimination of the season on Tuesday, Oct. 23 at Georgian Downs.

“We bought her privately after she finished third at Woodbine (March 5) , with the intention of racing her in the OSS,” recalls Coleman. “I thought she would be huge all summer, but about a week after the last time I raced her (March 19) she colicked and we had to rush her into Guelph. We thought we were going to lose her.”

Fortunately, surgeons at the University of Guelph’s Equine Clinic found that the filly did not have any twists in her intestines and were able to relieve her discomfort without removing any tissue. Unfortunately, Stacer The Pacer was faced with a long recovery that curtailed the high expectations for her sophomore Ontario Sires Stakes campaign.

After returning from the University, Stacer The Pacer was confined to stall rest for one month, turned out for one month, and then began a very slow program on the Equi-sizer. Once Coleman felt the filly could handle the work, she resumed driving her, and the Cambridge resident was surprised at how quickly the Apaches Fame daughter regained her fitness.

“They don’t always come back very good from colic surgery,” explains the young conditioner. “I started her back slowly. When she got to where she was handling her training miles well, she couldn’t blow a match out after, we decided to qualify her and race her a couple of times and see.”

Six months after she had scored her first victory for Coleman and owners Michael Lindley and Steve Calhoun of Chatham, Stacer The Racer delivered a steady qualifying effort, circling the Mohawk Racetrack oval in 1:57.1. On Sept. 28 she qualified a second time, this time with a winning effort in 1:56.1, so Coleman dropped her into an Oct. 4 overnight at the Campbellville track.

Stacer The Racer finished third in her comeback, half a length behind the winner in a 1:54.1 mile, and on Oct. 11 she found her way back to the winner’s circle at Woodbine Racetrack with a 1:54.2 mile over a track rated two seconds slower than normal.

“She won that race in 1:54.2 in a wind storm; I really think that was like a mile in 1:51,” says Coleman. “She’s very fast, and we’re hoping she’s competitive (Tuesday).”

Stacer The Racer will make her Gold Series debut from Post 6 in the $114,250 Gold Elimination, which will see just one filly eliminated. The top nine finishers will return to Georgian Downs for the last $130,000 Gold Final in their career on Oct. 30.

Among the fillies Stacer The Pacer faces in her Ontario Sires Stakes season opener are reigning Gold Final champion Simply Mavelous from Post 3, and former Gold Final winners Michelles Power, Jans Luck and Milliondollarsmile from Posts 4, 5, and 7.

Post time at Georgian Downs for this Tuesday’s rich elimination, slated as Race 9, is 7:35 pm.

For complete entries please go to:

http://www.standardbredcanada.ca/entries/data/egeodftu.html#N9