DRESDEN, ON — Fans on hand for the Chatham Daily News “Big Cash and Prize Giveaway” at Dresden Raceway on Monday afternoon were treated to seven outstanding Grassroots races by the two-year-old pacing fillies.
In the second race on the Grassroots program Eye Max lowered the 1:59.1 track record set by Kellycrombie in 1999 by almost one full second when she roared down the stretch to a 1:58.2 victory.
In rein to Steve Skilton the Doug Brown trainee snatched the victory away from pacesetter and local favourite Fannies Fortune, owned by Robert B. Chapple of Chatham. Fannies Fortune fought off Our Shady Lady to retain the second-place finisher’s share of the $15,000 Ontario Sires Stakes purse.
A daughter of Astreos, Eye Max is owned by Joseph Hamilton and Murray Ross of Norwood and Grant Ross of Peterborough. The win was the filly’s first in two starts.
Eight races later Eye Max was ousted from track record holder status when Witness To Fame and Dave Wall used similar stalking tactics to score a lightning fast 1:57.1 victory over pacesetter Angelina Seelster and local filly Levas Lucille, owned by trainer Donald Strain of Dresden, breeder Max Chinnick of Chatham and Carman Rose of Wallaceburg.
The win was Witness To Fame’s third straight in Grassroots action and solidly establishes her as the division leader with three of six Grassroots events complete. Trainer Bud Sinclair of Stratford and Dr. Norman Amos of St. Marys share ownership on the Apaches Fame daughter, who also boasts a pair of fourth-place finishes in the Trillium Series for earnings of $31,587. The talented young pacer has more than recouped the $8,000 Sinclair and Amos offered for her at last fall’s Forest City Sale.
Local fillies had a banner day, capturing two races and picking up cheques in two others. In addition to the efforts of Fannies Fortune and Levas Lucille, Terra Cotta Rascal was a 1:59.4 winner for Glencoe resident John Fraleigh in the sixth race and Ashley And Gloria delivered a 2:00.3 triumph in the eighth for Malcolm and Robert MacPhail of Dover Centre and Graham Chambers Ltd. of Bothwell.
Driver Dave Boughton scored a driving double on the matinee program, guiding Fabulous Flori to a 1:59.2 win in the ninth race for trainer Mark Austin and owner Paul Lindsey of Fergus and Devils Delight to a commanding 2:02 victory in the last division for trainer James Graham of Hamburg, NY and his partners Ronald Viola of Rochester, NY and David Venniro of Webster, NY.
The other division went to President Emmy, who logged a 2:00 front end victory under the guidance of Kevin Wallis. Kim Matthews trains the Presidential Ball daughter for Murray Cox and Sharon Roden Cox of Rockwood.
The two-year-old pacing fillies begin the second half of their season on Sunday. Aug. 8 at Clinton Raceway, with Ontario Sires Stakes action also returning to Dresden next Sunday in the shape of the third Grassroots event of the season for the three-year-old trotting fillies.