OTTAWA, ON — Sylvain Filion turned a Sunday evening outing to Ottawa into a profitable venture with a hat trick of Grassroots victories aboard a trio of talented two-year-old pacing fillies.
The reinsman kick started his evening with a 1:58 score aboard first time starter Mississippi Queen, who sprinted home to a one and one-quarter length victory over Tymal Trilogy and fan favourite Artxzipit.
Mississippi Queen delivered an impressive effort in her first lifetime start, rolling up from off the pace to catch the leaders. Millar Farms of Newmarket, ON bred and own the daughter of Jeremes Jet and $798,227 winner Serious Comfort, and Eric Adams handles training duties on the youngster. Adams qualified the filly twice prior to Sunday’s outing, sending her out for a 2:00 stroll around Mohawk Racetrack on July 2 and a 2:00.1 jaunt around Georgian Downs on July 9.
Filion was back in the winner’s circle following the second $24,000 Grassroots division, steering Eat Me Up to a dominant seven and one-quarter length victory for owner-trainer David Ratchford of North Sydney, NS. Canjet and Sunflower were well back in second and third.
Eat Me Up sailed across the finish line in 1:58.3, peeling four full seconds off the personal best she had recorded at Nova Scotia’s Northside Downs in her July 2 debut. The Mach Three daughter also scored a win at Northside on July 9, halting the teletimer at 2:04 on a track rated one second slower than normal. Ratchford, who piloted the filly in her qualifiers and first two starts, acquired the talented youngster for $12,000 at last fall’s Harrisburg Yearling Sale.
Gord Brown prevented Filion from making a clean sweep of the Grassroots divisions with his victory in Race 8 with Eric Adams trainee Mindsweeper. The pair swept down the stretch to a 1:59.2 victory over Lismaraslady and favourite Driving Miss Deo.
A second generation product of the Millar Farms breeding operation, Mindsweeper is the fourth foal from $260,829 winner Catch A Wish, one of several outstanding racehorses produced by the Newmarket nursery’s top broodmare Little Black Book. Like her stablemate Mississippi Queen, Mach Three filly Mindsweeper qualified at Mohawk Racetrack on July 9, finishing third in 1:59.3, and at Georgian Downs on July 9, scoring a 1:59.4 win.
The final Grassroots division found Milton, ON resident Filion back in front of the grandstand with Memumsnotnice, who was a comfortable two and one-half length winner in 1:59.1. Fan favourite Elegant Mach carved all the fractions but had to settle for second, with Keystone Chianti rounding out the top three.
Le Gardeur, QC resident Colin Johnson trains Memumsnotnice and shares ownership of the filly with Gilles Caouette of Garson, ON, Claude Baril of Mascouche, QC and Fred Brayford of Alliston, ON. The daughter of Jeremes Jet and $118,141 winner Bunny Town was a relatively modest $15,000 purchase from the 2010 Canadian Open Yearling Sale, and her owners will be hoping she can follow in the footsteps of $206,180 winning half-sister Carolina Moon.
The two-year-old pacing fillies make the third stop on their Grassroots tour at Georgian Downs on Aug. 13. Fans of the Ontario Sires Stakes program will be back at Rideau Carleton Raceway on Monday evening for the $130,000 Gold Final for the exciting two-year-old pacing colts, featuring elimination winners Warrawee Needy and Best Ears. Post time for Monday’s program is 4:30 pm and the colts are featured in Race 5.
For complete results please go to: Rideau Carleton Raceway Results — July 17, 2011