DUNDAS, ON — Two years after Brian Newman decided to skip the yearling sales and race his trotting fillies under his own colours, the Chatsworth resident is heading to Flamboro Downs on Sunday to watch Justwin compete in a $120,000 Gold Final and Larissa battle in a $20,000 Gold Consolation.

“We used to follow the yearling sales, and people did well with the horses we sold, so we decided to retain the fillies and race them,” explains the lifelong horseman. “We generally breed five mares and hope to get four foals.”

Justwin heads into the Gold Final among the favourites after capturing her Gold Elimination last Sunday with an effortless front end performance, stopping the clock in 2:01.2, two lengths ahead of the competition. The Amigo Hall daughter will start from Post 4 in Sunday’s Gold Final, her third appearance at Flamboro Downs in as many weeks.

Elmira resident George Zirnis trains and drives Justwin, and sent the young trotter out in a trio of qualifiers before her racing debut in the Bud Light Stakes at Flamboro on July 6, where she finished second to Keep In Dutch.

“George has done a nice job with them,” says Newman. “We’ve had a few horses with George over the years, and he’s very professional. There’s no fooling around with George, he just tells you the way it is.”

Newman says the veteran trainer liked both Justwin and Larissa while they were learning their early lessons at his winter base in Hawkinsville, GA, but Justwin currently holds top spot in his affections.

Larissa, another daughter of Amigo Hall out of Lou Macs Pride, rang up one qualifier before delivering a sixth-place effort in her Bud Light split. In last week’s Gold Elimination the filly finished fourth behind the undefeated Daylon Mystique, who is also by Amigo Hall, to land a spot in the consolation where she will start from the trailing Post 9.

“We really like the Amigo Hall’s, they are a very uniform group. We have four fillies this year by him,” notes Newman. “And George was happy with the fillies all winter. He likes both of them, but he definitely likes the Justwin filly.”

The Newman’s also breed and raise show jumpers at their Chatsworth farm, but the horseman admits to a bias toward the breed that both his parents and grandparents raised.

“I prefer Standardbreds over all the breeds,” confesses Newman. “They are a dual purpose breed, and they are a lot easier to work with.”

Having said that, Newman admits that young racehorses come with no guarantees, especially novice trotting fillies.

“With trotting fillies, it’s early to say how good they are, you never know,” cautions Newman.

“It will be a good race Sunday,” he adds. “There are a lot of good fillies in there; tough competition.”

Justwin’s primary competition in the Gold Final will come from elimination winners Cumin First, Striking Fashion and Daylon Mystique, who are stacked up at Posts 1, 2 and 3. In the Gold Consolation, Larissa will have her hands full with Napanee Seelster and Magical Debut at Posts 5 and 7.

Post time for Flamboro Downs’s Sunday evening program is 6 pm, with the Gold Final slated as Race 3 and the Gold Consolation rolling up behind the gate in the fifth race.

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