INNISFIL, ON — Ontario’s most talented trotters and pacers are rushing to Georgian Downs this Saturday, July 2 for seven $40,000 Gold Series Eliminations.
The three-year-old colts and fillies will be vying for a return invitation to Innisfil for the track’s signature event — Gold Rush — on July 9, which features four $130,000 Gold Finals and four $100,000 Masters Stakes Finals along with countless opportunities for fans to get in on the winning.
Among the hopefuls for a berth in the three-year-old trotting filly Gold Final is China Pearls, a newcomer to provincial competition this season who is owned by Ted Murrell of Sharon, trainer Carman Hie of Rockwood, Blake Anthony of Millgrove, and Peter Kloepfer of Harley. Through six lifetime starts the filly has recorded one win and three thirds and her connections are hoping she continues to improve and becomes a serious contender on the Gold Series circuit this season.
“We like her and with a bit of luck she’ll do okay this summer,” says Murrell, who owns one-quarter of the filly. “She’s green, she’s only had six lifetime starts, but she’s got some ability there, that’s for sure.”
Murrell bought in on the filly after he ran into his longtime friend Carman Hie at the 2009 Canadian Open Yearling Sale. Hie had just purchased China Pearls for $13,000, and he asked if Murrell would like a share in the daughter of Kadabra and Pure Sable.
“I hadn’t been with Carm for about 15 years, this is the first horse we’ve got back with him, because we were with him for over 20 years,” relates Murrell, who bought his first horse in 1968. “He asked me if I wanted to take a quarter of her, and I said sure, because we’ve always been good friends.”
After teaching the filly her early lessons, Hie opted not to race her as a two-year-old, but Murrell says the trainer was always positive about the youngster’s prospects. After qualifying three times in early April, China Pearls made her first start in an overnight event at Woodbine Racetrack on April 21, finishing third in a 1:58.3 clocking.
A 1:58.1 win at Mohawk Racetrack on May 5 earned the filly a shot in the Gold Series season opener at Western Fair Raceway on May 20, and in spite of an early error, China Pearls took home a third-place cheque. The filly’s next start came in a split of the Casual Breeze Stake at Mohawk on June 3 and she delivered a fourth-place result. Back in open company on June 10 China Pearls finished third in her Elegantimage Elimination — three and three-quarter lengths behind the division’s dominant player Crys Dream — but an early miscue in the $519,000 Elegantimage Final one week later saw her finish well back of the winner in ninth.
China Pearls and driver Randy Waples return to action from Post 7 in the first of two trotting filly Gold Eliminations on Saturday, squaring off against a field of eight that includes reigning Gold Final champion Lukes Sophie at Post 9.
“We do like her and we do have good hopes for her, because I think she has a lot of talent, but she’s still a little bit green yet,” says Murrell, who will not be able to catch China Pearls in action at his local oval on Saturday.
Instead the longtime harness racing fan will watch a replay of the race on his computer once he returns from the North York Drive-in, which his family has operated since 1955.
“I’m happy to own part of her, but I don’t get to see her too often, because everything is on the weekend,” explains Murrell. “I get Monday and Tuesdays off, but they don’t race often, these Ontario Sires, those days. It would be nice because I enjoy it, but at least I get to see it on the computer, a few years ago they didn’t have that.”
In addition to China Pearls’ Gold Elimination, slated as Race 3 on Georgian Downs Saturday program, Murrell will also be checking out the competition in the other trotting filly division, which goes postward as Race 5.
The three-year-old trotting colts open the 4 pm program with a single $40,000 Gold Elimination in Race 1, followed by the pacing fillies in Race 2. The second pacing filly split is Race 4 and then the three-year-old pacing colts wrap things up in Races 7 and 8.
The top nine finishers from the elimination round will be back at Georgian Downs for the lucrative Gold Rush night on July 9. In addition to the Innisfil oval’s usual slate of trackside events on Gold Rush night — which includes the chance for one fan to win $100,000 — the Ontario Sires Stakes program will launch Win The Thrill, a unique promotion that gives fans an opportunity to turn their interest in harness racing into an ownership share of an Ontario-bred yearling.
For complete entries please go to: Georgian Downs Entries — July 2, 2011