SARNIA, ON — Fans who made the trip to Hiawatha Horse Park on Thursday evening got full value for their dollar from the three-year-old trotting fillies battling for Gold Final supremacy in the eighth race.

From the moment the starting gate pulled away from the field, the fillies were in high gear. Elimination winner and fan favourite Oaklea Odessa fired out of Post 3 and Terry Kerr and Porsche Hall moved down from Post 9 as though they had been shot out of a cannon. As the pair swept by the eye popping :26.3 opening quarter, Porsche Hall had a short lead on the outside, but Oaklea Odessa was giving no ground to her left.

The pair cooled the blistering pace through the second stage of the race and Oaklea Odessa hit the halfway marker one and a half lengths on top in a comparatively sedate :58.1. Porsche Hall was tucked in behind the leader and the other elimination winner, Birminghim, was mounting a challenge on the outside.

At the 1:27.2 three-quarters Oaklea Odessa and driver Paul MacDonell were still comfortably in charge and by the time they swept under the wire in a smart 1:56.4, the Balanced Image miss had extended her lead to two lengths. Stablemate Oaklea Omega and Dave “Mr OSS” Wall saved ground on the rail from third throughout the race and then delivered a sharp finishing kick to earn runner-up honours while Birminghim stayed game on the outside for third. Holyrood closed like a rocket from seventh at the top of the stretch to finish fourth and nose Porsche Hall and Sarnia resident Terry Kerr into fifth.

The win was Oaklea Odessa’s fourth straight this season, cementing her position as a major player in the three-year-old trotting filly ranks. Parkhill Stud Farm of Peterborough, Ariel Stables of North York and Glenn Van Camp of Port Perry share ownership on Oaklea Odessa, and Peterborough resident John Bax trains the winner of $207,053 and her stablemate Oaklea Omega. The mile was just four-fifths of a second off the three-year-old trotting filly track record, set by another Bax trainee, Pepi Lavec, in 2002.

The victory was also the filly’s first Ontario Sires Stakes triumph. In spite of a creditable record in the provincial program as a two-year-old, her only freshman victory came in a Flamboro Breeders event.

Oaklea Odessa and her Gold Series peers will now turn their attention toward Woodbine Racetrack for the Casual Breeze and Elegantimage Stakes, before returning to Ontario Sires Stakes action on June 23 at Western Fair Raceway.

Ontario Sires Stakes excitement returns to Hiawatha Horse Park on Saturday, July 15 with a Trillium Series event for the three-year-old pacing fillies.

For complete results please go to:

http://www.standardbredcanada.ca/results/data/rsarfth.html#N8