FRASERVILLE, ON — Kawartha Downs will serve as a proving ground for the two-year-old pacing fillies on Saturday evening as the youngsters compete in the second of six Grassroots events on their 2003 schedule.

Three of the winners from the Grassroots season opener will attempt to extend their lead atop the division standings, while 22 fillies make their Ontario Sires Stakes debut in the $119,460 event.

Local filly Invitro, one of the novices in the group, will make her racing debut from Post 6 in the ninth race for trainer-driver Doug Brown of Bowmanville and owner-breeders Gordon Irwin of Cobourg and Murray Ross of Norwood. The Camluck filly heads into the race off a pair of winning qualifiers over the Kawartha oval, a 2:02.3 score on July 3 and a 2:00 victory on July 12.

“This is kind of where we were pointing her towards,” says Ross. “But nobody knows how good she is. She hasn’t done much yet.”

Both of the filly’s qualifying wins were come from behind efforts and Ross says Brown was making a few equipment changes this week in an effort to improve Invitro’s chances at landing a choice spot off the gate.

“He’s changing things this week, hoping to maker her better. She was all closed up for the qualifiers, so he’s going to try her with an open bridle,” explains the long time owner. “Hopefully he can get her to leave a bit.”

A daughter of Ross and Irwin’s good racemare Keystone Trinidad, Invitro is one of a select group of youngsters born through in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer. Although she was bred for the first time in 2000, $181,787 winner Keystone Trinidad did not retire from racing until one year later thanks to the embryo transfer technology, Dr. Moira Gunn from Armstrong Bros. and a generous surrogate mare who carried Invitro from 10 days after conception until birth.

“Keystone Trinidad was racing well at the time so Dr. Gunn took the embryo out at 10 days and put it in a surrogate mare,” explains Ross. “It’s reasonably new in the horses, but we were lucky, everything went well.”

And Ross and Irwin hope things continue to go well for the filly when she makes her debut at Kawartha on Saturday evening. Among the fillies Invitro will face in the ninth race are two who made their provincial debut at the Gold Series level, three who competed in the Grassroots season opener and two other newcomers to stakes action.

In addition to Invitro, Brown will harness Paul’s Peanut from Post 3 in the eighth race. The Run The Table daughter, owned by Brown, Paul Pryne of Brampton and Jackson Wittup of Calgary, AB, made her debut at Kawartha on July 10 where she struggled to finish seventh over a sloppy track.

Kawartha Downs sends its first race onto the five-eighths mile oval at 7:20 pm and will shine the spotlight on the two-year-old pacing fillies in Races 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, and 9.