FRASERVILLE, SEPT. 23, 2005 — Ontario’s talented three-year-old trotting fillies wrap up their Grassroots season at Kawartha Downs on Tuesday afternoon and Clare �Chuck’ Thompson is hoping Chuckalo Beckster can lock up a berth in the Grassroots Semifinal with a strong performance in the second division.
“She’s been fairly consistent all year. She’s got good gate speed and she really tries hard,” says the Sunderland resident. “I think she’s probably the best trotter I’ve had so far really, a couple others are in the same category, but she’s definitely the best filly I’ve had.”
After starting her Ontario Sires Stakes season with third and sixth-place finishes in the elimination and final of the May Gold event at Woodbine Racetrack, Chuckalo Beckster has posted one win, one second and one third in four Grassroots starts for a total of 87 points.
The Airies Canada daughter currently sits tied for eleventh in the Grassroots point race and Thompson would like to see her earn another shot at the Grassroots Semifinal. A win and a second in the last two regular season events landed the filly in the post season as a two-year-old, but she came up sick and finished fifth in the Semifinal.
“She showed good speed last year. She was second in her first start, that was a non-stakes start, and then she won her first stake race and was second in the next one. Then she got sick on me,” recalls Thompson. “She finished fifth in the Semifinal, she just wasn’t right. If she had of been, she’d have been in the Final, but we didn’t quite make that.”
The full-sister to $110,397 winner Chuckalo Chase and $188,849 winner Chuckalo Chase Tom will attempt to secure another Semifinal berth from Post 1 in the third race on Tuesday and Thompson does not expect a repeat of the break that cost the filly eight points in her Sept. 3 Grassroots start at Hanover Raceway.
“She had a little bit of a bad trip last time with the break,” notes Thompson, who also drives the filly. “She’s a little bit better on the five-eighths, I think, than the half-mile. The sharp corners are tough on a trotter, and that one at Hanover comes up pretty quick.
“I hope everything goes okay and she’s feeling good,” he adds. “We’ll see what happens.”
Among the fillies Thompson and Chuckalo Beckster will face on Tuesday are two other fillies keen to land a spot in the Oct. 7 Semifinal at Georgian Downs. Praha currently sits just ahead of Chuckalo Beckster in the standings with 91 points and will start from Post 7, while Patti Royal returns to the Grassroots after taking a shot at the Gold fillies and will need a top finish to shore up the 58 points she has earned through one win and one fourth-place finish. Patti Royal starts from Post 8 in the second $16,598 division.
Post time for Kawartha Downs’s Tuesday afternoon program is 4 pm, with the three-year-old trotting fillies ready to duke it out for the last time in Races 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, and 9.
For a complete list of entries please go to:
http://www.standardbredcanada.ca/entries/data/ekdftu.html