WINDSOR, ON — Over the next two weeks Windsor Raceway will host a total of four Ontario Sires Stakes Gold Series events. Kicked off by the two-year-old pacing fillies on Sunday evening (Sept. 22), the gold rush continues on Wednesday night with two Gold Series Eliminations for the two-year-old trotting fillies.

Heading into Wednesday’s contest Independent Woman stands head and shoulders above the crowd with a record of six wins and two thirds in eight provincial starts. Hailing from the Henry Stable of Arthur, the Royal Strength daughter has accumulated 262 points in Gold Series action and has been enjoying a well deserved vacation since her triumph in the Aug. 28 Gold Final at Rideau Carleton Raceway. She and regular driver Wayne Henry will attempt to extend their current win streak to three from Post 5 in the sixth race.

Trainer John Bax sends a pair of fillies into the fray at Windsor Raceway and Cinnabar Hanover will square off against Independent Woman from Post 8. The Balanced Image lass has yet to hit the top three in seven starts and Bax admits that he is waiting for the filly to put all the pieces together and display the raw talent he has glimpsed in training sessions at his Peterborough farm.

“She’s always on the edge, but I haven’t got the potential out yet. I keep hoping, but it hasn’t translated into results on the racetrack,” says the 2001 O’Brien award winner as Canada’s top trainer. “She always been kind of immature physically. She had the speed but she couldn’t handle it and I am beginning to believe a lot of it is mental too. She hasn’t caught on to racing yet.

“I’m hoping she’ll give me something before the end of the year to look forward to next season.”

Al Libfeld of Pickering, Marvin Katz of Toronto and Sam Goldband of Toronto own Cinnabar Hanover, who was a $62,000 US yearling purchase last fall.

Bax’s main hope for a Gold Series trophy will come in the second Elimination, Race 10, in the shape of rapidly improving Aimees Image. The Balanced Image daughter heads into Wednesday’s contest off a big victory in the $477,900 Oakville Stakes at Mohawk Racetrack on Sept. 16 where she bested a field of her American counterparts in 1:58.4.

Since her Gold Elimination win at Rideau Carleton on Aug. 21 Aimees Image has only finished out of the top two on one occasion, posting runner-up finishes in her Oakville elimination and a division of the Champlain Stakes at Mohawk and boosting her bank account to $315,286, which makes her the richest of the 20 fillies entered in Wednesday’s Gold Eliminations.

While Bax and owners Glengate Farms of Campbellville and Kesons Stables Inc. of Cambridge are enjoying the filly’s recent successes, the trainer admits he was not really expecting to find himself in the winner’s circle with the cantankerous youngster.

“Have you ever watched her warm up or post parade?” he asks. “After the race (Oakville), Ken Middleton stuck a microphone in my face and said, “John I watched this horse for the last four minutes before the race and she never trotted a step,” and I said, “Now you know why I have grey hair.”

“She’s always been ignorant. Given her temperament and the problems we’ve had as far as handling her, I guess I’m a little surprised with what she’s accomplished. The stars all lined up on the right day.”

Bax gives high marks to caretaker Don Watson and driver Steve Byron who have learned to manage the filly’s grouchiness on and off the racetrack.

“She wouldn’t be a horse you’d want to spend 24 hours a day with,” he says. “But she’s got that Balanced Image desire, that fight. It goes a long way.”

Byron and Aimees Image will start from Post 10 in the tenth race and Bax hopes that the trailing position will not knock the filly off her game now that she has started to mind her manners behind the starting gate.

“I don’t know how she’ll handle that, it’s something new,” he says. “Once she gets away from the gate and she’s in the race Steve says you can drive her like a pacer, you can’t knock her off her feet.”

Bax will be hoping for at least a top four finish from Cinnabar Hanover and Aimees Image as only the top four, plus one fifth-place finisher drawn by lot, will advance to the $130,000 Gold Final on Oct. 2.

Windsor Raceway kicks off its midweek program at 7:25 pm Wednesday and the two-year-old trottign fillies are featured in Races 8 and 10.