REXDALE, ON — Over the last five years Ross Henry has invested a total of $144,000 purchasing the offspring of Witsends Robin from breeders Grand Royal Farms and Ron Waples. Of the five yearlings he has acquired four have made it to the races, three have earned over $100,000 and in total they have banked $593,791 while in his care.
The latest member of Witsend Robin’s talented clan is two-year-old trotting filly Independent Woman, who will attempt to capture her second Gold Final trophy at Woodbine Racetrack on Monday night. The Royal Strength daughter heads into the $130,000 contest on a four-race win streak, with her only loss coming in a Trillium Series division at Sudbury Downs on June 29. Her 2:00.1 mile in the first Gold Final of the season was a Flamboro Downs track record and tied the all-time Ontario Sires Stakes record for two-year-old trotting fillies on a half-mile track.
While Henry may have been surprised at the speed with which Independent Woman established herself as a force in the freshman filly division, the Arthur resident has not been surprised by her talent.
“We knew, maybe not that she was this good, but we knew she was pretty good,” says the three-time winner of the Johnston Cup, awarded annually to the leading trainer in the Ontario Sires Stakes program. “She is good mannered, one of the better tempered ones of the whole bunch actually. She’ll likely get beat one of these times, but you hope not this week, naturally.”
Independent Woman will make her bid for a fifth victory from Post 8 in the fourth race on Monday night and although a spot closer to the rail would make her job easier, Henry is not worried about the filly’s prospects from the outer half of the starting gate.
“She is easy to drive. You could race her anywhere,” he says. “It just happens that she’s been on the front, but you do what you think is best out there.”
Henry’s son Wayne will drive the filly, who he shares ownership of with his father and brother Trevor under the Henry Stable banner, and all three men will be keeping careful watch on the other two elimination winners, Mikestory from Post 2 and Clarice Marie from Post 5.
“That one of Bill’s (Megens, Mikestory) is pretty good and that one that came from behind last week (Clarice Marie) looked like a decent filly,” says Ross Henry. “They’re all pretty good, and they’ll all get better too likely. Whether ours will get any better or not I don’t know.”
Mikestory scored the fastest elimination win, stopping the clock in 1:59.2 before the track conditions were downgraded to sloppy and rated one second slower than normal. Bill Megens of Troy bred, owns, trains and drives the Eager Seelster daughter, who finished second to Independent Woman in the Flamboro Gold Final.
Clarice Marie scored the upset of the evening in the elimination round, making up more than five lengths with her :29.1 last quarter. Trainer-driver Tom Durand of Puslinch leases the filly from Lynn Baker of Shreve, OH and says she has been a model student since joining his string last fall, in spite of the breaks she made in her first qualifier and her debut in the Gold Eliminations at Flamboro on July 6.
“She was getting kind of anxious behind the gate so I had to take some time and settle her down, get her to relax,” says Durand. “I put some ear plugs in her and that seemed to help a lot so I think we’ve got that taken care of.
“She’s kind of got a license to be good if you look at her pedigree. She’s a full sister to B Cor Pete ($893,076) and a half-sister to B Cor Timgo ($584,629) and if you dig a little deeper who pops up is Banker Hall ($1,026,624),” adds the trainer.
In addition to Mikestory and Clarice Marie, seven other fillies will be looking to dethrone Independent Woman and write their own names in the Ontario Sires Stakes history books during the fourth race. Ten others will be attempting to earn the lion’s share of the $30,000 purse in the Gold Series Consolation in Race 2.
Harness racing excitement gets under way at 7:40 pm at Woodbine Racetrack and fans who cannot make it to the Rexdale oval can catch the Ontario Sires Stakes Consolation and Final on The Score sports channel. The program begins at 7:30 pm and runs until 9 pm, including a special feature on the Henry family and Independent Woman.