WINDSOR, ON — Windsor Raceway fans get their second look at Ontario’s talented two-year-old trotting fillies on Wednesday when the young trotters return to the province’s southern-most oval for a pair of $49,145 Gold Series Eliminations.
Dream On Bernie captured a Trillium Series division when the fillies made their first stop at Windsor on Aug. 11 and the ultra-consistent daughter of Berndt Hanover will be looking for another top finish in spite of drawing Post 7 in the first elimination.
“She liked the track at Windsor there last time. She seemed to get around it real good,” says trainer George Zirnis. “And she’s handy enough off the gate she should get spotted even from the seven-hole.”
Owned by Zirnis, Janet Fairall of Windsor, Tanya Martin of Elmira and Nancy Holmes of Clinton, Dream On Bernie has not missed the top three in seven starts this season, logging a record of two wins, four seconds and one third for earnings of $117,278. A homebred out of former Zirnis trainee Dreamfair Tierra, the filly has developed a very relaxed attitude that the conditioner hopes will serve her well as the freshman fillies reach the mid-point in their five month long Ontario Sires Stakes season.
“If I ask her to leave she’ll get to the front and then she goes into a real lazy mode. At Windsor she went the second quarter in :33.2 and I was speaking to her and tapping her with the whip just to get there. She won’t go until another horse comes along,” says the Elmira resident. “She doesn’t use any extra energy racing. She should last a long time, she’s so easy on herself.”
The trotting specialist adds that filly has not lost her hearty appetite and cleans out her feed bucket whether she is in her stall at home or in temporary residence at racetracks from Ottawa to Windsor.
“She’s been really healthy, touch wood, all along and I’d say she has more flesh on her than when I started racing her. She’s a real hog, she’ll eat anything that’s put in front of her,” he says. “And she’s a good shipper. There’s not much that bothers her.”
Zirnis and Dream On Bernie face a tough field in Wednesday’s elimination, including two-time Gold Elimination winner Lookit from Post 4, Robert Stewart Stakes winner Elena from Post 5, reigning Gold Final champion World Class Image from Post 6 and Gold Final and Robert Stewart Stakes winner Real Live Woman from Post 9. Advancing to next Wednesday’s $130,000 Gold Final will require a top four finish, with one fifth-place finisher being selected by random draw, and Zirnis says one thing working in his filly’s favour may be Real Live Woman’s outside post.
“What may help us is Real Live Woman having the nine-hole. The nine-hole is really, really tough at Windsor,” notes the veteran conditioner. “We’ll hope for the best. There’s not a whole lot else we can do other than go race and see what happens.”
Windsor Raceway’s first race parades onto the track at 6 pm on Wednesday with the two-year-old trotting fillies stepping to centre stage in Races 9 and 11. The top nine fillies return to the five-eighths mile oval on Wednesday, Sept. 1 for the third $130,000 Gold Final on their freshman schedule.