CAMPBELLVILLE, ON — After setting track and Ontario Sires Stakes records in their first two Gold Series events, the talented two-year-old trotting fillies bring their high speed show to the big leagues on Monday, Aug. 20, competing in four Gold Eliminations over Mohawk Racetrack’s seven-eighths mile oval.
After making a break in the July 17 Gold Series season opener Magical Wand skipped the second provincial event, but the Ron O’Neill trainee has been sharpening her skills at Mohawk in the last four weeks. A 1:58.2 winner in the opening leg of the July 22 In Free Series, Magical Wand finished second in leg two and fifth in the In Free Final, then came up with an impressive effort to finish second to reigning Gold Final champion Torch in a division of the Aug. 12 Robert Stewart Stakes.
“We went up to Barrie with her and she had the nine-hole and made a break. She kind of got lost out there from the nine-hole,” explains O’Neill. “I didn’t have to qualify her again for the In Free and she did really well in her first start, so I talked to Paul (MacDonell) about it and we thought, a lot of her races are at Mohawk, why don’t we keep her here and teach her how to race? And it was maybe a little bit easier racing.”
With four races under her belt at her local oval, Magical Wand is a far more experienced and versatile filly than she was in the July 17 Gold Elimination at Georgian Downs. The Kadabra daughter will take her second crack at the province’s top fillies from Post 3 in the fourth Gold Elimination Monday, and O’Neill is confident that she is up to the challenge.
“Training down and that, I knew she had a little something, but I didn’t want to say much because it always comes back and bites you,” says the horseman, laughing. “If she races like she has been, she should be fine.”
O’Neill and Doug Millard of Woodstock purchased Magical Wand at last fall’s Harrisburg Yearling Sale for just $9,000 US. The first foal of former Ontario Sires Stakes competitor Paidindreams ($218,357), Magical Wand first caught O’Neill’s eye because he had trained her mother’s half-sibling Paidmyway ($109,530) early in her career.
“I knew the family,” explains O’Neill. “She was a nice filly, but she wasn’t very flashy looking. The people that raised her, I think his wife had passed away, and I think they just didn’t have a whole lot of work in her. She’s a gorgeous looking filly right now.”
Among the horses that Magical Wand and Paul MacDonell will face in Race 6 on Sunday is former Gold Final winner Dornello, who will start from Post 8 in the nine filly field. The pair will be looking for a top two finish to guarantee their spot in the Aug. 27 Gold Final, as only two of the third-place finishers will participate in the $130,000 Final.
The talented freshman trotting fillies will open Mohawk Racetrack’s Monday evening program at 7:20 pm with their first $28,612 Gold Elimination, and continue to entertain fans in Races 3, 4 and 6.
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