DUNDAS, ON — Three-year-old pacing fillies take centre stage at Flamboro Downs on Sunday evening, as eight divisions of talented youngsters battle for a total of $120,000 in Grassroots purse money.

Ancaster resident Alan Fair will send a pair of fillies into the fray on Sunday, Missy’s Q T and Lady Astreos, and the trainer is hoping the brief journey from his farm to the Flamboro oval will work in the fillies’ favour.

“I don’t think shipping is easy on any of them. I know we are leaving early for Clinton tomorrow to give him (stablemate Adamisastar) time to settle in,” he says. “The fact that Flamboro is closer makes it much easier.”

Missy’s Q T will make her third Grassroots start from Post 6 in the fifth race on Sunday, continuing a frustrating trend that has plagued her since the start of her sophomore season.

“She’s a nice little filly, but she doesn’t draw too good,” laments Fair, who bred and owns the filly in partnership with his wife Cloah. “It’s tough when you draw bad on a half-mile track.”

Through eight starts the daughter of Pacific Rocket and Armbro Preamble has started from the outer half of the gate six times. She heads into Sunday’s event off a third-place finish in a June 27 overnight at Georgian Downs, where she started from Post 2.

“That was the first time she’s drawn a decent post and she raced good,” says the veteran horseman. “She’s improving, but I don’t know how she’ll be Sunday.”

Michael Langdon will handle the lines on both Missy’s Q T and Lady Astreos on Sunday, steering Lady Astreos in her Grassroots debut from Post 3 in Race 8.

“She made her first start off a couple qualifiers up in Barrie (June 28), and she didn’t race that well,” notes Fair. “This is going to be her second start back Sunday.

“She was racing good in the wintertime, but they shut her down when I got sick,” adds the trainer, who suffered a heart attack in February.

This winter Lady Astreos cashed four straight cheques at Woodbine Racetrack, clocking a 1:57.3 mile in a fourth-place effort on Feb. 3. The Astreos daughter would love to bounce back to that early season form and stake a claim on some Grassroots treasure Sunday.

Among the fillies she will face are last year’s Grassroots Champion Borderlinegorgious from Post 4 and Pauline Seelster, who captured a Grassroots division on June 17 at Grand River Raceway and starts from Post 7 Sunday.

The first three-year-old pacing filly Grassroots division goes postward at 6:20 pm on Flamboro Downs’ Sunday evening program, with the remaining divisions scheduled for Races 5 through 9, 11 and 12.

The field for next week’s Gold Final is as follows:

Post 1 Imagine Freedom

Post 2 Laura Mae

Post 3 Bold Bidder

Post 4 Zeglarska Street

Post 5 Valkyrie Hanover

Post 6 Draconian Promise

Post 7 Stunning Beauty

Post 8 Alias Seelster

Post 9 Don’t You Smile

AE1 Miss World

AE2 Chillmetodbone

AE3 Even Now

For a complete list of entries please go to:

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