FRASERVILLE, ON — Tuesday’s Grassroots event at Kawartha Downs will mark a return to her roots for two-year-old trotting filly Pondo Holly.

Bred and owned by Donald Luther and Gloria Hewitt, the filly was bred, raised and educated in Fraserville before being sent to Campbellville-based trainer Bob Young in early June.

“She was trained and worked down by Herb Hewitt,” says Luther. “We just gave her to him (Young) about the first of June or so.”

Once she arrived in Young’s barn, Pondo Holly prepped for the Ontario Sires Stakes season with a 2:05.1 win in a June 24 qualifier at Mohawk Racetrack. Ten days later the Angus Hall miss debuted in the Grassroots program at Georgian Downs, logging a second-place finish in a 2:04.4 mile.

With that start under her belt, Young opted to move the filly up to the Gold Series when it shifted to Windsor Raceway on July 16 and Pondo Holly responded to the promotion with another solid runner-up effort. However, back at Windsor for the July 23 Gold Final, the filly made a series of miscues that left her well back of the field.

“She couldn’t get hold of the track,” says Luther. “I guess the track was really loose and she was slipping. That probably led to the first break and trying to catch up led to the second one.”

With the Gold Series fillies heading to Ottawa’s Rideau Carleton Raceway for their third event this weekend, Young chose to move back to the Grassroots and Pondo Holly will start from Post 5 in the sixth race on Tuesday.

“We debated whether to go down there, but it’s a long trip so we decided to come to Kawartha,” says Luther. “I can’t get down to Rideau Carleton or Windsor, but I can get to Kawartha, I live right beside it, so that part of it will be good.”

Pondo Holly is the fourth generation of Luther’s breeding program, and the long time Fraserville resident would love to see her achieve the same sort of success at the provincial level that her mother Pondo Cillin did in 1994 and 1995.

“Her mother was a real good filly. She won the Canadian Breeders and she won a Gold Series up in Toronto. She was a real nice filly,” recalls Luther, whose longtime partner and friend, the late Rick Hewitt, trained Pondo Cillin. “We’ve had three foals out of the mare and they’ve all been on the edge of being good, so hopefully she will carry on. She seems okay.”

Young piloted the filly in both of her Gold Series starts, but Roger Mayotte returns to the race bike on Tuesday. Among the fillies the pair will face are a trio of Grassroots winners. Witcherys Dream will start from Post 2, Meadowview Judy gets Post 3 and Powerline Mesa lines up from Post 7.

Post time at Kawartha Downs on Tuesday is 4 pm and the two-year-old trotting fillies are featured in Races 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8 and 9.

For complete entries please go to:

http://www.standardbredcanada.ca/entries/data/ekdftu.html