LONDON, ON — Western Fair Raceway brings its spring meet to a close next week with a pair of outstanding Ontario Sires Stakes events. The province’s talented three-year-old trotting fillies take centre stage at the London oval on both Wednesday, June 28 for Grassroots action and Friday, June 30 for a $130,000 Gold Final.
Hoping to earn a trip into the winner’s circle at his hometown oval on Wednesday is Herman Bardoel, who sends out three trotting lasses in the Grassroots Series. Treasure Best makes her second Grassroots start from Post 3 in the fourth race, Truly Magic starts from Post 6 in the fifth race and Vijay Star will be looking to add to her point total from Post 8 in Race 9.
“I’m just happy if they all stay trotting. To me that is very important,” says the Putnam resident. “And if they all stay flat I think we have a chance to pick up some money, so let’s hope for the best.”
All three fillies have already cashed Grassroots cheques this season. Vijay Star finished second in the season opener at Grand River Raceway and Treasure Best and Truly Magic picked up fifth-place cheques in their first stab at the provincial program on June 10 at Sudbury Downs. The trio have spent the weeks since the Sudbury event competing in the City of London Trotting Series at Western Fair, where they continued to boost their seasonal statistics.
Striking Sahbra daughter Treasure Best finished fifth and fourth in the June 14 and 21 legs of the City of London Series, while Truly Magic picked up a second in the first leg then made an early break that left her out of contention in the second. Bardoel shares ownership on Treasure Best and Royal Ballad miss Truly Magic with Robert Irving of Dorchester, and London resident Peter Hamilton trains all three fillies.
After making a break in the Sudbury Grassroots event, Vijay Star was forced to miss the opening leg of the City of London Series, but the Super Star Ranger daughter bounced back to score a 2:02.4 win in Leg 2.
“If she stays flat she is probably my best filly,” notes Bardoel, who acquired the mare Bagel when she was in foal with Vijay Star. “I think we have a half decent shot in there.”
Bardoel adopted the prefix Vijay for his homebreds after watching an interview with professional golfer Vijay Singh several years ago.
“He was doing an interview and they asked, �What does Vijay mean?'” recalls Bardoel. “He’s from Fiji and he said, �In Fiji, that means lucky.’
“I’ve got a letter here, signed by his manager, saying that I can name one of my horses Vijay Singh. I went to see him when he was playing in Canada,” adds the breeder. “So one of these days, when I think I’ve got the best one, I’m going to call him Vijay Singh.”
Until then Bardoel will continue to add �luck’ to each of his horse’s names and hope that when they step up behind the starting gate they can perform to the standard Singh has achieved in the realm of professional golf.
On Wednesday, the starting gate rolls onto the track at Western Fair Raceway at 7:35 pm and the three-year-old trotting fillies will battle for Grassroots hardware in Races 3 through 10.
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