CAMPBELLVILLE, ON — Monday’s Gold Eliminations at Mohawk Racetrack will mark the last stop on the Ontario Sires Stakes circuit for a number of two-year-old trotting fillies, but trainer Jerry Duford is hoping First Flower is not one of them.

The Angus Hall miss will make her third Gold Series appearance from Post 5 in the first $40,000 elimination and the Campbellville, ON resident would love to see her advance to the Oct. 18 Gold Final. With a fourth and a fifth in Gold Elimination action thus far, First Flower has not yet appeared in a Gold Final, but she has turned in some impressive results outside the provincial program, finishing second in her Champlain Stakes division at Mohawk on Sept. 2 and second in her Peaceful Way Elimination one week later.

Unfortunately First Flower came up sick for the Sept. 18 Peaceful Way Final and finished well back in eighth, but Duford says she seems to be back on her game and ready for Monday’s test.

“I trained her today (Thursday) and she trained pretty good, I was happy,” says the veteran horseman, who shares ownership of the filly with Joanne Wray of Campbellville, ON and Lloyd and Barbara Tylee of Grimsby, ON.

First Flower caught Duford’s eye at last fall’s Lexington Selected Yearling Sale and he was able to acquire the second foal of $414,731 winner Elena for $25,000.

“I looked at a lot of them, and she was one I liked and could afford,” recalls Duford pragmatically. “She’s a beautiful looking filly and she’s got a really good mother.”

The filly was a quick study and showed potential right from her earliest training miles. As a result her owners opted to maintain her eligibility to races like the $466,000 Peaceful Way and the $616,000 Goldsmith Maid, which is coming up at Woodbine Racetrack on Oct. 29 and Nov. 6. Duford has not decided whether First Flower will contest the Goldsmith Maid, it will depend on her health and how she makes out in the Gold Series on Monday.

“We just go race to race with her. If she’s all right we’ll go,” says the horseman.

“She’s pretty green yet,” he adds.

Regular reinsman Jason Brewer will steer First Flower from Post 5 on Monday, and Duford says the Puslinch, ON resident has done an exceptionally good job teaching the filly how to race since her Aug. 2 debut in a Gold Elimination at Mohawk.

“He really did a good job with her. I’m very happy with him,” says the trainer. “She was a little tricky when we first started baby racing her. It wouldn’t take much to make her make a break at times, but now she’s getting pretty good.”

In six starts First Flower and Brewer have amassed a record of three seconds, one fourth and one fifth for earnings of $42,482. Among the fillies they will face in Monday’s first race are division point leader Peach Martini from Post 1 and reigning Gold Final champion My Whispering Eye from Post 8.

The second race features two time Gold Elimination winner Enchantment from Post 2 and Gold Final runner-up Oh Sweet Baby from Post 4, while the final split has former Gold Final winners Extraordinaire and Beach Party AS squaring off from Posts 2 and 4.

The first Gold Elimination kicks off Mohawk Racetrack’s Monday evening program at 7:20 pm, and the top three finishers from each elimination, plus one fourth-place finisher selected by random draw, will make their last Gold Final start over the Woodbine Racetrack oval on Oct. 18.

To view First Flower’s previous Gold Series starts click: First Flower

For complete entries click: Mohawk Racetrack Entries — oct. 11, 2010