GLOUCESTER, ON — Rideau Carleton Raceway continues its action packed stakes season with four Trillium Series divisions for the two-year-old trotting fillies on Friday evening.
Open to any filly owned by a resident of Ontario, regardless of where she was sired, the Trillium Series is worth a total of $73,104 on Friday. Among the youngsters hoping to earn a share of the provincial purse is Super Trot, who will start from the advantageous Post 1 in the tenth race.
Greely resident Ted McDonald trains Super Trot for Michael Larkin of Ottawa and the pair are using the Trillium Series to measure their filly’s ability before the Grassroots and Gold Series’ get under way next week.
“She’s one we only give $8,000 for and she’s turned out all right,” says McDonald. “I don’t think she’s that kind of class, but we decided to give her a shot because we’re stabled right at Rideau.”
The Super Pleasure filly, who was bred by Brian and Stephanie Cassell of Smiths Falls, heads into her racing debut off a 2:07.4 win in a Rideau Carleton qualifier on June 26. With a June 5 schooler and a June 12 qualifier also on her resume, Super Trot is one of the more seasoned fillies in the Trillium event, but McDonald says she is still capable of making rookie mistakes.
“She can make mistakes, just like any two-year-old does,” he says, noting that a break in her June 12 qualifier resulted in some equipment changes that put her back on track for the win five days later. “She just kind of lost herself and wasn’t acting right, but we straightened her out and she looks all right now. We made some equipment changes, added trotting boots behind where we used to have just bandages.”
While Super Trot led from gate to wire in her June 26 qualifying win McDonald is confident the filly can cope with any kind of trip that comes her way on Friday evening.
“She’s versatile. It doesn’t really matter with her what she does. She can come either way,” he says. “She was a little wild when we first started with her, but all of a sudden she turned out to be one of the nicest ones we have.”
Among the fillies Super Trot will face in the $18,216 tenth race is Meadowview Marion from Post 6. Trained by Paul Shakes of Stayner for his partner Meadowview Farms Inc. of Orono, who developed last year’s two-year-old trotting colt champion and reigning Gold Final champion Meadowview Sunny, Meadowview Marion comes into the Trillium event off a very impressive 2:04.1 qualifier at Mohawk Racetrack on June 21. Veteran reinsman Dave Wall also piloted the Incredible Abe filly to a victory in a June 14 qualifier, stopping the clock in 2:04.4.
Rideau Carleton Raceway raises the curtain on its Friday evening program at 6:40 pm with the two-year-old trotting fillies slated to make their provincial debut in Races 3, 6, 8, and 10.