FRASERVILLE, ON — Of the eight two-year-old trotting fillies John Bax trained all winter, five of them will compete at Kawartha Downs on Tuesday, July 31 in the second Ontario Sires Stakes Gold event.

“The fillies have got there, and shown me more than the colts,” says the Peterborough resident of his crop of freshman trotters.

Just two Bax trained colts have made an appearance on the Ontario Sires Stakes scene, while four of their feminine stablemates have provincial credits on their resume. Among the fillies that have impressed Bax in the early stages of the freshman campaign is Nashotah, who finished third in her July 17 Gold Elimination at Georgian Downs and will start from Post 3 in the third race at Kawartha on Tuesday.

“She raced very well, she just missed getting into the Final. I was real happy with her first start,” says Bax, who trains the Duke Of York daughter for breeders Wescott LLC of Neenah, WI. “She just got a little tired at the end, otherwise she would have been second, she just got caught at the wire.”

Nashotah is the first foal of former Ontario Sires Stakes competitor Wescott, who was a Gold Final winner at two and earned $347,292 in her freshman and sophomore seasons.

Accompanying Nashotah in the second $36,149 elimination is Gaelic Mistress, who makes her first lifetime start from Post 7. After beginning her education a few weeks later than her stablemates due to a leg injury, the Striking Sahbra daughter made her first appearance on the racetrack in a July 19 qualifier at Kawartha Downs that saw her circle the five-eighths mile oval in a winning 2:05.3 effort.

“We ended up doing surgery on the leg and cleaning it up, so she was a little later, but she qualified very well,” says Bax. “She’s a big, strong filly.”

Bax’s Parkhill Stud Farm, Wooden Lissen Stable of Port Perry, Venture K Stable of Little Britain and Lewis Palmer of Oshawa share ownership on Gaelic Mistress.

Bax will also harness two fillies in the first elimination, sending Taketwo N Callme and Grammy Hall into the fray from Posts 4 and 8. Taketwo N Callme made her Ontario Sires Stakes debut in the July 21 Grassroots event at Georgian Downs, finishing fourth in a 2:01.2 mile, and Grammy Hall made a disappointing break and finished eighth in her Gold Elimination at Georgian on July 17.

“It’s one of those, which way do you go with her?” says Bax of Taketwo N Callme, a homebred daughter of Dr Ronerail he owns with John Hayes of Sharon and George Grant of Oakwood. “Her line was promising enough that if she steps up, she should be competitive.”

Before she made the mistake in the Gold Elimination, Grammy Hall had delivered two solid efforts in qualifying and overnight action, so the trainer hopes her error was just a small hiccup in the Angus Hall daughter’s freshman career.

“She’s one of the question marks,” admits Bax. “But she qualified good enough I thought she deserved a chance, and I really didn’t get a reading on the last race.”

Breeders Glengate Farms of Campbellville, Ariel Stables of North York and Bax’s Parkhill Stud Farm own Grammy Image, who is the second foal of former Bax trainee Gramola’s Image.

“She moves a little freer than her mother did,” reflects the horseman. “Her mother was a little more muscle bound, and this one is a little more athletic.”

The final entry from the Bax Stable, Valley Courtney, will start from Post 2 in the third Gold Elimination. The filly qualified twice at Mohawk Racetrack earlier in the month, but failed to meet the Ontario Sires Stakes qualifying standard so Bax started her in an overnight at Georgian Downs on July 15 where she made a break coming around the last turn. A third qualifier at Mohawk on July 23 saw Valley Courtney put it all together and deliver an impressive 2:02.4 victory.

“She’s a typical Striking Sahbra; not too big, but very quick,” says Bax. “I like her, I think she has lots of potential. She’s not a big, robust filly, you couldn’t rough her up too much, but she shows me some ability.”

Bax and Harry Locke of Oshawa own Valley Courtney, a $50,000 US yearling purchase whose half-brother Too Salty will compete in eliminations for the 2007 Hambletonian this weekend.

Post time for Kawartha Downs’s Tuesday, July 31 program is 4:15, and the two-year-old trotting fillies will be looking to secure a top three finish in Races 2, 3 and 6, to earn a return ticket to the Fraserville oval for the Aug. 7 Gold Final.

For complete entries please go to:

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