FRASERVILLE, ON — On Saturday evening John Bax will send a total of 12 horses to the post at three different racetracks, with the largest contingent heading to Kawartha Downs.
The Peterborough resident will harness seven two-year-old trotting fillies in Trillium Series action at his local oval, with Yankee Dakota earning the nod as the leading contender from the Peterborough resident’s barn. The Balanced Image lass starts from Post 5 in Kawartha’s fifth race and will be looking for her second win of the season.
“I think she’s special, or I think she will be,” says the veteran trainer. “I think she’s going to be a top filly next year. We’ll be going on to the Gold (Oct. 25) with her, so we’re just looking for her to behave herself and turn in a good effort.”
Bax and partners Bob Anderson of St. Thomas and David Willmot of King City were disappointed when the $130,000 yearling made a break in the Goldsmith Maid eliminations at Mohawk Racetrack last week. The trio will be looking for a return to the solid form Yankee Dakota exhibited in September, when she finished second and third in a Gold Series Elimination and Final and captured a Trillium division at Georgian Downs on Oct. 4.
Competing against Yankee Dakota from Post 7 in Race 5 is consistent Grassroots competitor Trendy Girl, who heads into Saturday’s showdown off an impressive runner-up finish in the Oct. 12 Grassroots event at Windsor Raceway.
“She raced really well last weekend in Windsor,” says Bax. “She tied up a few races ago and last week she showed she was over it. She’s kind of an in between mare, a B-plus. She does have some talent, but whether or not she graduates to the A level next year we’ll have to wait and see.”
Following Saturday’s contest, Trendy Girl is headed for the Grassroots Semifinal at Western Fair Raceway on Oct. 24 where Bax and owners Al Libfeld of Pickering, Marvin Katz of Toronto and Sam Goldband of Toronto hope she can advance through to the Oct. 31 Grassroots Championship.
Bax will also start two fillies in the third and sixth races. In Race 3 Speed Unlimited gets Post 1, while Sour N Sweet, owned by Parkhill Stud Farm of Peterborough, John Hayes of Sharon and George Grant of Whitby, starts from Post 3. Desi Sweet Sixteen gets Post 2 in the sixth race for Bax and Glengate Farms of Campbellville and squares off against stablemate Victory Bouquet from Post 6.
Like Yankee Dakota, Balanced Image daughter Victory Bouquet has spent the season competing against Ontario’s top fillies, but Bax says the contrary filly is her own worst enemy.
“She has talent, but she has an attitude problem. She’s been a disappointment because she has a lot more ability than she’s shown,” explains Bax, who trains the filly for Libfeld, Katz and Goldband. “We’re waiting for the stars to line up for her. If she’d focus her energy in the right direction we’ve got something, but that doesn’t always happen.”
Bax’s other starter in the Trillium Series is Shez Mine, owned by Parkhill Stud Farm, Brilo Farms of Sharon, Glengate Farms of Campbellville and Kesons Stables Inc. of Cambridge. The Balanced Image daughter gets Post 1 in the second race on Kawartha’s Saturday evening program.
The Fraserville oval sends its first race to the post at 7:30 pm on Saturday, with the two-year-old trotting fillies spotlighted in Races 2, 3, 5, and 6.