WINDSOR, ON — When Dream On Bernie started to run a fever just before the Gold Series season opener in May, trainer George Zirnis opted to skip the top tier event and race in the Grassroots contest two weeks later. Now, as the three-year-old trotting fillies gear up for their second Gold event at Windsor Raceway on Sunday, the veteran horseman has a two-time winner to send out against the top fillies in the province.

“I wanted to qualify her twice and get a nice race into her before the first Gold, but she got a little sick, was running a little temperature so we missed that week,” explains Zirnis, who trains the filly for fellow breeder Janet Fairall of Windsor, Tanya Martin of Elmira and Nancy Holmes of Clinton. “She’s starting to round into real nice shape now.”

After a two week break to recover from her illness, Dream On Bernie captured her May 23 Grassroots division, trotting around a sloppy Dresden Raceway oval in 2:07. Fifth in a May 30 overnight at Woodbine Racetrack, the Berndt Hanover daughter then posted a third-place finish in a $75,000 division of the Casual Breeze Stakes at Woodbine on June 3. Met by another off track in her most recent start, a Trillium Series event at Hiawatha Horse Park on June 16, Dream On Bernie delivered a second victory in 2:05.1.

“She trotted a couple of miles around 1:59 last year, but I didn’t know whether she’d be able to come back and trot in 1:56, 1:57 this year,” comments Zirnis. “But her last race at Woodbine was pretty nice, she came home in :28.

“She hasn’t got the greatest burst of speed like some of the other ones I’ve had, but she’s very steady. She hasn’t made a break yet as a two-year-old or three-year-old, touch wood,” adds the Elmira resident. “Track size or bad conditions don’t seem to bother her, she’s just a steady plodder.”

A daughter of former Zirnis protege Dreamfair Tierra, Dream On Bernie earned $174,494 as a two-year-old and has banked $26,589 through four starts this year. Dreamfair Tierra earned $223,185 in her career, but caused Zirnis a great deal of grief in the process with her fractious temperament and propensity for making breaks.

“This filly is lazy jogging, lazy training, lazy racing, not like her mother at all,” says the veteran horseman, who also drives all of his horses. “And it looks like she’s going to exceed her mother’s earnings.

“She was a big bonus last year, she made around $174,000,” he adds. “I told the girls who own her with me, if she doesn’t get a whole lot this year I won’t cry because she got a big chunk of it last year.”

Dream On Bernie will tackle the Gold Series fillies from Post 1 in the ninth race on Sunday, facing off against reigning Gold Final champion Erotica from Post 5 and May Gold Elimination winner Southern Senorita from Post 8.

“She should be able to get out of there pretty good,” says Zirnis. “I won’t complain, give me the rail every time. It’s a lot better than the eight or nine hole.”

The second Gold Elimination goes postward as Race 12 on the 6 pm program and features the most expensive Standardbred racehorse ever sold in Canada. Honour Way was recently purchased by Dundas resident Brad Gray for the queenly sum of $295,000 and will start from Post 2 in the second $52,925 division. Bob McIntosh trainee Heartful Image will be hampered by the nine-hole for the LaSalle based trainer and his partners CSX Stables of Liberty Center, OH and Irving Liverman of Hampstead, QC.

Post time at Windsor Raceway on Sunday evening is 6 pm and the three-year-old trotting fillies will duel for a berth in the $130,000 Gold Final in Races 9 and 12. The top four finishers from each elimination, plus one fifth-place finisher drawn by lot will return to the border oval on July 3 for their second Gold Final of the season.

For a complete list of Sunday’s entries go to:

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