DUNDAS, ON — Flamboro Downs plays host to one last Ontario Sires Stakes event this Saturday when the three-year-old trotting fillies roll back into town for their second Trillium Series event.
With two fillies that competed in their $300,000 Super Final event at Woodbine Racetrack on Oct. 14 and one that was a part of the Grassroots Championship program at Flamboro on Oct. 7, trainer John Bax will harness an impressive entry in the two Trillium divisions. The Peterborough resident will send out Gramola Grande and Oaklea Omega in the second race and Oaklea Odessa in the fifth, with Gramola Grande starting from Post 2 and his Oaklea fillies both drawing the outside Post 8.
“Gramola Grande has always been a �tweener,'” notes Bax, who shares ownership on the filly with Glengate Farms of Campbellville and Ariel Stables of North York. “She never really got up to her true potential. When she wants to do it she can, but she doesn’t always want to.”
The daughter of Mr Lavec and Gramola finished fourth in the three-year-old trotting filly Grassroots Championship two weeks ago and Bax says he was pleased to see the young trotter achieve a top five finish, but somewhat disappointed that she was unable to capitalize on the perfect trip engineered by regular reinsman Stephen Byron.
“The rail really helped, and she got a great trip. I thought maybe off that trip she could do a little better, but she took a little rest going to the three-quarters and then came back on, and she didn’t tell me why,” says the trainer with a wry chuckle.
Coupled with Gramola Grande in the first $33,536 Trillium division is stablemate Oaklea Omega, who heads into Saturday’s contest off an uncharacteristic break and fifth-place finish in the Gold Series Super Final. Bax attributes the filly’s miscue to the lack of pace through the middle stages of the Super Final, and does not expect to see a repeat from the daughter of Balanced Image and Chippies Victory this week.
“I think she got jammed up pretty good. They weren’t going very much,” he explains. “She came out of the race well. It was just too bad the way the race set up.”
What will handicap the winner of $353,054 on Saturday is the outside Post 8 in a field of nine fillies. It will be the first outside post of Oaklea Omega’s sophomore campaign, which has seen her make 20 starts and score five wins, three seconds and one third for Bax, Brilo Farms of Sharon, Glenn Van Camp of Port Perry and Venture K Stable of Little Britain.
Oaklea Odessa will also be handicapped by the eight hole in Race 5, a fate she too avoided through a 19 start season that saw her record seven wins, five seconds and one third to boost her lifetime earnings to $429,643.
In last weekend’s Super Final at Woodbine, Oaklea Odessa finished two lengths ahead of her stablemate in fourth and Bax says of all three fillies, the long season is starting to show most on the daughter of Balanced Image and Sara Eve.
“The racing has taken its toll on her, she’s a little more tired,” says the trainer, who owns the gritty trotter in partnership with Ariel Stables and Glenn Van Camp. “She has had a long year, and most of the time when she races, she does a lot of the work, so she hasn’t kept her form quite as well.”
Paul MacDonell will pilot both of the Oaklea fillies on Saturday and will be looking to record their second Trillium Series victory of the season.
Post time at Flamboro Downs is 4 pm on Saturday and the Bax fillies and their three-year-old trotting filly peers will square off in Races 2 and 5.
For complete entries please go to:
http://www.standardbredcanada.ca/entries/data/eflmdsa.html