Two fresh faces and two repeat winners took home Grassroots hardware from Mohawk Racetrack on Monday evening as the Campbellville oval welcomed back the talented two-year-old pacing fillies.
P L Karis opened the Grassroots action with a 1:55.2 win in the second race. The Sportswriter daughter, in rein to Campbellville, ON resident Chris Christoforou, Jr., left smartly from Post 5 and did most of the work on the front end, digging in hard down the stretch to hang on for a nose victory over Odysseus. Snappy Dresser was one and one-quarter lengths behind the fan favourite in third.
“We’re pretty high on her. She’s been battling sickness through this whole summer, we really thought she was a Gold filly, but she just can’t get over her sickness, so she overcame that tonight,” said owner Dan Clements. “I wasn’t even going to race her tonight, but decided to bring her up and you know she was all right, she was just average, but she still won, so we’re happy.”
Currently based at Tioga Downs in Nichols, NY, Clements and trainer Renaldo Morales, Jr. qualified the filly twice in June and then sent her north for the Grassroots season opener at Mohawk on July 8, where she finished third. After an early miscue and fifth-place result in her July 25 Battle of the Belles Elimination at Grand River Raceway, P L Karis had a few weeks off, then re-qualified at Tioga Downs on Aug. 12.
“She’s got extreme speed, she just hasn’t shown everything that she’s got yet,” said Clements, a native of Uxbridge, ON. “When I qualified her she was awesome and there was big numbers being thrown around for her, but she just hasn’t shown that yet on the track. I know she’s got it in her, she’s just like her sister ($343,197 winner Mach It A Par) so we’ll just wait on her and see what happens.”
Named in honour of the Clements’s daughter-in-law, who is expecting their first grandchild in November, P L Karis will return home to Ontario in September to finish up her freshman season and prepare for what her connections hope will be a healthier 2017.
Like P L Karis, the second division winner, Dudesalady, prepped for the Grassroots campaign south of the border. The Shadow Play daughter qualified three times and raced twice at Vernon Downs before arriving in Ontario for the Aug. 11 Grassroots event at Mohawk, where she finished second by a nose after carving all the fractions.
With Post 1 in Monday’s test, driver James MacDonald opted for a covered up trip, and when he pointed Dudesalady at the leaders just after the half, the filly was ready to rumble. Reeling in pacesetter and fan favourite Shewearsthepants in the stretch, Dudesalady pulled away to a one length victory in a personal best 1:54.3. Shewearsthepants finished second and Village Jamie was one-half length behind her in third.
“I looked at her lines and it looked like she’d win first up once or twice. Jody (Jamieson) raced her on the front last time and she just got beat, so I kind of wanted to try and be close, but not too close, maybe first or second over if I could,” said MacDonald, who was making his first appearance in the filly’s race bike. “She raced good. She hung in tough, and when I called on her she took off.”
The Guelph resident engineered the win for trainer Howard Okusko, Jr. of Vernon, NY and owners M And L Of Delaware LLC of Wilmington, DE and Victoria Dickinson of Greenville, DE. In four starts Dudesalady now has two wins and two seconds for earnings of $15,750.
The third $18,000 Grassroots division saw Shanghai Sugar score her second Ontario Sires Stakes win, going gate-to-wire from Post 7 in a personal best 1:55.1. Warrawee Speedy finished one length behind the favourite in second, while Cams Lucky Star was well back in third.
“She gets better and better every start,” said trainer-driver Travis Henry. “We gave her a week outside after the Battle of the Belles Final (Aug. 1), because she was a little sick , so that’s why we missed last week, and I’m very happy with the way she came back tonight.”
Embro resident Henry conditions Shanghai Sugar for Craig Wood of Waterdown, his mother Linda Henry of Brantford and Glen Wark of St. Catharines, ON. In four starts the Shanghai Phil daughter has posted two Grassroots wins, a second in her Battle of the Belles Elimination and a third in the Battle of the Belles Final for earnings of $33,436.
In the final division P L Kahluaa made it two in a row over the Mohawk oval with a confident front-end steer from Milton, ON resident Sylvain Filion that saw her power home two and three-quarter lengths the best in 1:54.3. Amulet Seelster and Braonach finished in second and third behind the favourite.
“This filly is perfect,” said trainer Richard Moreau. “You wouldn’t even know she’s there, and every time she shows up to race she gives 120 per cent.
“The people where she come from deserve all the merit,” the Puslinch, ON resident continued. “They made my job so easy.”
Former trainer Patrick Richer sent P L Kahluaa to Moreau after her first two Grassroots starts, a second at Mohawk in the season opener and a fifth at Clinton Raceway on July 17. The Sportswriter daughter found the winner’s circle for the first time in the Aug. 11 Grassroots event at Mohawk and Monday’s repeat performance put her at the top of the division standings with 130 points. Numbered company 9303 3868 Quebec Inc. of Blainville, QC owns the talented pacer.
The two-year-old pacing fillies will make their fifth Grassroots start at Georgian Downs on August 30 and then wrap up their regular season at Flamboro Downs on Sept. 8. The top 20 point earners after the six regular season events will return to Mohawk for the Sept. 15 Semi-finals, with the top five finishers from each Semi-final moving on to the $50,000 Grassroots Championship on Sept. 24.
Next Monday, August 29 the Campbellville oval will host the fifth Grassroots event for the two-year-old pacing colts. Mohawk Racetrack’s first race goes in behind the starting gate at 7:30 pm.
For complete results please visit Mohawk Racetrack Results — Monday, August 22, 2016