WINDSOR, ON — Three-year-old pacing filly Yankee Pica made her first lifetime appearance in the winner’s circle at Windsor Raceway, and trainer Bob McIntosh is hoping she can score her first Ontario Sires Stakes win at her local oval this Sunday, May 25.

Yankee Pica will go postward in the second of six $20,000 Grassroots divisions on Sunday, starting from the advantageous Post 2. The No Pan Intended daughter rides into the contest on a five-race win streak, and based on her last start McIntosh thinks she has a legitimate shot at some provincial hardware.

“She seems to be developing a good determined attitude,” explains the Windsor resident. “In her last start she turned for home and Randy (Waples) called on her, and she really dug in deep. She seems to have a little bit of grit to her.”

In that May 15 start at Mohawk Racetrack, Yankee Pica and driver Randy Waples had enjoyed a comfortable lead for most of the mile, but around the last turn Ms Goliath started to pressure them from the outside. Under urging from Waples, Yankee Pica dug in down the stretch and hung for a half length victory in a personal best 1:54.2.

The filly was also a winner at Mohawk on May 1 after winning three straight at Windsor. She posted her first victory on April 6 in her fifth lifetime start, exactly two months after debuting at the Windsor oval in a Feb. 6 qualifier.

McIntosh shares ownership on Yankee Pica with his cousin Al McIntosh of Leamington, and the partners acquired the filly for a modest $27,000 US from the 2006 Lexington Select Yearling Sale.

“My cousin Al and I bought her for $27,000 because there was nothing wrong with her,” recalls McIntosh. “We started her at two and when she got a little sore we turned her out and brought her back this year, and she’s been a pleasant surprise.

“She’s one of those fillies that kind of is an over achiever,” he adds.

Most of the fillies going postward in the second Grassroots division will be making their Ontario Sires Stakes debut, and McIntosh is confident Yankee Pica will deliver a creditable performance. However, there is a small part of him that wonders if she deserved a shot at the Gold Series. Only 11 fillies entered the Gold event this Friday at Western Fair Raceway’s half-mile oval.

“I got thinking that maybe I had started over thinking it,” says McIntosh, with a wry chuckle. “I maybe should have been going there (Western Fair), because she does train over a half-mile track, but if I get beat in my own backyard at least it’s a short drive home.”

Post time for Sunday’s program at McIntosh’s local oval is 7 pm and the three-year-old pacing fillies will square off in Races 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, and 9.

The first $20,000 Grassroots skirmish features last year’s division runner-up Shake That Junk, who will start from Post 3 in her sophomore debut. The winner of $283,319 heads into the race off a qualifier at Mohawk Racetrack, where she posted a one length victory in 1:56.1. The number four filly in the freshman Gold Series division will also use the Grassroots program as her springboard back to stakes form. Maddam Luck will be looking for her second straight win from Post 1 in the fifth race.

For complete entries please go to: http://www.standardbredcanada.ca/entries/data/ewrfsu.html