WINDSOR, ON — Strikingimpression emerged onto the Grassroots scene later than trainer Bob McIntosh expected, but the local horseman is hoping the filly is ready to make her presence felt as the two-year-old trotting fillies bring their provincial game to Windsor Raceway on Tuesday evening.

“I was very high on her early, she was one of the best training fillies early on, but she got her foot caught in her stall gate,” explains the LaSalle resident. “She’s come back pretty good from that.”

Strikingimpression made her Grassroots debut in the Sept. 12 event at Grand River Raceway and logged a solid runner-up finish in 2:04.2 mile. In the Sept. 29 contest at Flamboro Downs the Striking Sahbra daughter made an early break and was placed back to seventh, but McIntosh is hoping that the miscue was an anomaly and the filly will be ready for battle on Tuesday.

Don McElroy will steer Strikingimpression from Post 3 in the last $20,000 Grassroots division, facing off against a tough group of fillies that includes the top two point earners — Town Hall Babe will start from Post 1 and Simply Stirling gets Post 2. Singin Moe, who will start from Post 7, and Polished Maple, who gets Post 8, are also ranked among the top 16 point earners.

With just 25 points earned in her first two Grassroots outings, Strikingimpression needs a win at Windsor to extend her season through the Oct. 17 Semifinals.

McIntosh shares ownership on the filly with Dave Boyle of Bowmanville and C S X Stables of Liberty Center, OH. He and C S X bred the youngster, whose siblings include $137,370 winner Direct Dial.

Trainer John Bax is heading to Windsor with a trio of fillies, two of them within striking distance of the top 16. Northern Flirt will start from Post 2 in the third race, Love To Flaunt gets Post 5 in Race 6 and Lunar Stream will roll in behind the gate from Post 1 in Race 7.

Angus Hall daughter Love To Flaunt heads into the Grassroots regular season finale off a victory in the Sept. 29 event at Flamboro Downs, but Bax says Lunar Stream actually raced better in her fifth-place effort.

“They say if you race long enough you’ll get into one of those races where things just work out.,” reflects the Peterborough resident, who trains Love To Flaunt for breeders Al Libfeld of Pickering and Marvin Katz and Sam Goldband of Toronto. “She had the inside post, she got to the front, the favourites run, the other horses run, and she got the win. It’s nice to have happen.”

Libfeld and Katz also bred and own Lunar Stream, who trotted her mile in 2:03.4, but had to settle for fifth-place in her Sept. 29 division. The Kadabra daughter has struggled to find her niche this season, starting off in the Gold Series before dropping down to the Grassroots program in time for the Sept. 29 contest.

Northern Flirt is closest to a post season berth, with 67 points earned through four Grassroots starts, but the Amigo Hall miss heads into Tuesday’s skirmish off a pair of qualifiers required when she made breaks in Grassroots action at Georgian Downs and Grand River Raceway. Bax shares ownership on Northern Flirt with Bob Anderson of St. Thomas and Venture K Stable of Lindsay.

The two-year-old trotting fillies will square off in Races 3, 6, 7, and 9 at Windsor Raceway on Tuesday. The border oval sends its first race behind the starting gate at 7 pm.

For complete entries please go to: http://www.standardbredcanada.ca/entries/data/ewrftu.html.