ELORA, ON — When Ron Corbett decided to enter three-year-old trotting filly C H Meadow Miss in the Grassroots event at Grand River Raceway this coming Monday, May 22, the St. Jacobs resident knew he was going to have to answer a few questions.

The talented young trotter was coming off an effortless 1:58 track record performance at Georgian Downs on May 13, and most people expected to see her name among the list of fillies heading to Sarnia for the May 18 Gold Series event. However Corbett and his partner, Mount Forest resident Nick Henry, decided C H Meadow Miss could use another start under her belt before she tackled the Ontario Sires Stakes big guns.

“I got asked that quite a few times,” admits Corbett. “We just thought we’d give her another start. There is a Gold coming up at Western Fair Raceway (June 23) and if she races good Monday we’ll probably put her in the Gold at Western Fair.

“Last year we tried to manage her and do the proper things with her and so far it looks like it worked out,” adds the veteran horseman.

As a two-year-old C H Meadow Miss made one appearance in the Gold Series before dropping down to the Grassroots program where she scored two victories, including one at Grand River Raceway last September. The CR Renegade daughter, who was bred by Corbett and Henry, also captured a Trillium Series division on her way to posting a record of three wins and three seconds in 10 starts for earnings of $42,033.

After a two and a half month hiatus from racing and training, the filly resumed a regular work schedule in January and emerged in qualifying action on April 15 at Georgian Downs where she was a solid second in mixed company. Two weeks later C H Meadow Miss drew the outside Post 9 at Georgian Downs and Corbett was surprised with the come-from-behind effort she delivered to finish fifth, just one and three-quarter lengths behind the winner.

“She responded better than I probably thought she would,” he recalls. “We knew the way she raced off the first start she’d be tough (the next time).”

Back in the same class at Georgian Downs on May 13, Henry settled the filly in fifth through the early going, breezed to the front just past the halfway point and never had to glance over his shoulder again as C H Meadow Miss trotted comfortably to a two length victory in 1:58. The mile shaved one-fifth of a second off the former track record for three-year-old trotting fillies and raised the question about where she would make her first Ontario Sires Stakes start of the season.

“I think we’ll probably pick our spots,” says Corbett. “When you start going with the Gold horses you can be hard on them. We’re probably going to play it by ear. I just don’t want to get hungry for the money, which is easy to do.”

The filly’s first proving ground will be the eighth race at Grand River on Monday, where she will start from the trailing Post 9. While Corbett says the trailing position will be a new experience for the filly, he does not expect her to have any trouble adapting.

“She’s never trailed before,” says the horseman, “But I think she will be all right. She doesn’t get too hyper on the gate and she’s used to sitting in a hole.”

Among the fillies C H Meadow Miss and trainer-driver Henry will face in the sixth of seven $15,000 Grassroots divisions are four rivals from the freshman Grassroots circuit and four newcomers to the provincial program.

A total of 59 sophomore trotting lasses will vie for $105,000 in seven Grassroots divisions on Monday, kicking things off at 7:30 pm in the first race and building the excitement through Races 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, and 10.

Complete entries can be found at:

http://www.standardbredcanada.ca/entries/data/egrvrmo.html