SARNIA, AUG. 17, 2002 — Ontario’s talented three-year-old trotting fillies brought Hiawatha Horse Park fans to their feet for the second week in a row on Saturday night, delivering a blistering mile in their $130,000 Gold Final that lowered the track and Ontario Sires Stakes record.
As the fillies swept off the starting gate in the tenth race Greg Dustin fired Symphony Hanover out from Post 8 to grab the lead. The filly rocketed away from the field through the early stages of the race, on top by four lengths at the quarter-mile marker and halting the teletimer at :27.1. Symphony Hanover proceeded to roll the field through a :56.3 half and a 1:25.2 three-quarters with one elimination winner, Natashas Kiss, tucked behind her in second and the other elimination winner, Pepi Lavec, toughing it out on the outside.
At the top of the stretch Symphony Hanover was still on top by one length but the torrid pace was starting to take its toll and the Balanced Image daughter and Dustin faded badly through the stretch. Symphony Hanover’s rapid reversal left the door open for a trio of talented fillies and their veteran Ontario Sires Stakes drivers and Dave Wall, Ron Waples and Paul Walker were quick to step on the gas when they heard opportunity knocking.
Taylor Seelster (Waples) and Early Secret (Walker) closed like wildfire, but the lion’s share of the $130,000 purse went to Wall and Pepi Lavec, who had been stalking the pace from the outside since before the halfway marker. Although the duo suffered interference when Corinas Mission went off stride in front of them at the three-quarter pole, they recovered quickly and were just two lengths off the pace at the head of the lane, leaving Sarnia fans with little doubt that their top choice would deliver another resounding victory.
At the wire Pepi Lavec and Wall were one and a half lengths ahead of Taylor Seelster and Early Secret and the infield timer had ground to a halt at 1:56, taking three-fifths of a second off the all age track record the duo had posted in the elimination round and the Ontario Sires Stakes record for sophomore fillies on a five-eighths mile track.
The win was the John Bax trainee’s third straight in Ontario Sires Stakes competition and came just two weeks after an impressive third-place showing in the $500,000 Hambletonian Oaks at The Meadowlands. Bax shares ownership on the Mr Lavec daughter with Glengate Farms of Campbellville, and the partners are looking forward to the filly’s next shot at North America’s top sophomore trotting lasses in the Sept. 5 Simcoe Stakes Mohawk Racetrack.
Bax’s also trains Natashas Kiss, who was forced to circle tiring pacesetter Symphony Hanover to earn her fourth-place finisher’s share.
The record setting Gold fillies make their next start on Sept. 27 at Windsor Raceway, while Hiawatha Horse Park welcomes the two-year-old pacing colts for Grassroots action on Sept. 28.