DUNDAS, ON — When Rob and James Dennie went to the Northern Standardbred Sale last fall they did not intend to purchase a horse. The brothers went to the Barrie sale venue to sell one of their own yearlings and were looking forward to taking a year off from breaking and training a young horse.
However, while Rob Dennie was standing near the sales ring a lanky trotting filly caught his eye and the Walkerton resident wandered over to have a closer look. The filly, by Valleymeister out of Supergill mare Super Charming, looked as good up close as she had in passing and when bidding halted at $3,700 Dennie found himself with a horse to replace the one he had just sold.
With four starts and three wins on her freshman resume, Dennie’s impulse buy has proven to be a wise investment. And when Zorgwijk Emani lines up with seven of her peers in a $130,000 Gold Final at Flamboro Downs on Wednesday, Aug. 27 she could add an additional $65,000 to her already healthy bank balance.
“I don’t know what it was about her that caught my eye, but it’s paid off pretty good,” says Dennie. “She’s done everything just excellent. I’ve never had a trotter like her.”
Since her June 14 debut in a qualifier at Hanover Raceway, Zorgwijk Emani has captured a Grassroots division and two Gold Eliminations. Her only off the board finish came in the Aug. 4 Gold Final at Elmira Raceway where she made a break at the start and finished fourth.
“When she was leaving there were a couple coming up on the outside so Steve (Condren) thought he’d do the right thing and not get into a speed duel, but when he checked her up she put in a few steps,” explains Dennie. “Steve said, “I guess she wanted to roll.””
In last week’s elimination round at Flamboro the talented youngster clocked the fastest of the four eliminations, stopping the clock at 2:01.2 and hitting the wire 10 lengths ahead of runner-up Zorgwijk Empress. The mile impressed Dennie and may have assured the filly of the services of driver William “Bud” Fritz for a few more of her Ontario Sires Stakes starts.
“It surprised me that she raced that well. Bud gave her a real good drive,” says Dennie, adding that Fritz had initially turned down his request to follow the filly to all her Sires Stakes engagements.
“We asked him early on and he said no, with the horses he has he thought it would be too much,” recalls the full-time truck driver and part-time horseman. “But we asked him again and he said yeah, he thought he could go down to Flamboro, and I think he’s happy that he did. He really liked her when he qualified her and he gets along with her real well. And there aren’t too many around with more experience than Bud.”
Fritz will pilot the winner of $49,177 from Post 3 in Wednesday’s ninth race and Dennie says the Hall of Fame horseman will have plenty of options available to him depending on how the race shapes up.
“She likes to leave off the gate, but if you leave with her and somebody gets in front of her she’s real good sitting in a hole,” he says. “You can driver her with two fingers, that’s what Steve (Condren) said.”
Hanover resident James Dennie trains Zorgwijk Emani, who faces a highly talented field in her bid for a Gold Final title. All four elimination winners will line up side-by-side, starting with Flirting Lavec from Post 2, Zorgwijk Emani from Post 3, Fiesty Kindof Luv from Post 4 and Chelemark Spring from Post 5.
Flamboro Downs’s first race steps in behind the starting gate at 2:45pm on Wednesday, with the two-year-old trotting fillies turning up the heat in Race 9.