WINDSOR, ON — Windsor Raceway kicks off an action-packed Ontario Sires Stakes schedule on Wednesday with two Trillium Series divisions for the two-year-old pacing fillies.
Sixteen fillies will vie for a total of $68,738, including local fillies St Lads Survivor and Benzie. St Lads Survivor makes her second start in the Trillium Series from Post 3 in the seventh race and trainer Reg Mulholland is expecting the Matts Scooter daughter to continue her steady progress along the learning curve.
“She just gets more confident every time she races,” says the Leamington resident. “My wife and I took her ourselves to Hanover last week and she was very good, just took everything in.”
St Lads Survivor finished third at Hanover Raceway in a division of the freshman pacing fillies’ Grassroots season opener, an improvement over the sixth-place finish she logged in Trillium Series action at Georgian Downs on June 22.
Mulholland shares ownership on St Lads Survivor with Veronica St. Pierre of Ruscom Station, acquiring a half-interest in the filly after she brought just $2,700 at the Canadian Classic Yearling Sale last fall.
“She was raised by St Lads Farm and I bought half of her when she came home from the sale,” explains Mulholland. “She was easy to gait and has never been a problem since Day 1. That’s the key to getting these fillies going, is manners.”
Al Cullen will pilot the filly on Wednesday, taking on four other veterans of the Grassroots and Trillium Series’ and three newcomers to provincial stakes action.
Benzie makes her Trillium Series debut in the ninth race for owner and breeder Moison Farms of Belle River. The Camluck daughter heads into the $34,369 contest off an impressive third-place finish in the fastest of the Grassroots divisions at Hanover on July 3.
“They went a big, big mile and she was first up on the outside,” says owner-breeder Louis Moison. “She went a monster mile for her first start. We were very pleased with the way she raced.”
Guelph resident Gregg McNair trains the filly, a half-sister to $260,982 winner I’d Like To Win, picking up where Moison left off in the early spring.
“I started her myself and went the first five months with her, then shipped her to Gregg,” explains the long time horseman. “He trains them in groups and they learn their lessons much better being around other horses. He does an excellent job, he’s a professional.”
Benzie will start from the outside Post 8 on Wednesday and faces a tough group of fillies, including four who battled in the season opening Gold Series event at Woodbine Racetrack.
Windsor Raceway’s first race rolls in behind the starting gate at 6 pm on Wednesday, with the focus turning to the two-year-old pacing fillies in Races 7 and 9.