GLOUCESTER, ON — Porsche Hall heads into Gold Elimination action at Rideau Carleton Raceway on Thursday riding the biggest wave of good fortune that she has experienced this season, and trainer Terry Kerr is crossing his fingers that it can carry her through to next week’s Gold Final.

“After all the bad luck she’s had, hopefully it’s turning around for her,” says the Sarnia resident. “We’ll keep our fingers crossed.”

The three-year-old trotting filly heads to Ottawa as the reigning Gold Final champion after upsetting heavy favourite Pure Ivory in the Aug. 14 Gold Final at Mohawk Racetrack. Her 1:56 triumph marked the second straight week that she had avoided an outside post in Gold Series competition after a stretch of startlingly bad luck in the first two events of the season.

“She had the eight and nine-hole in Sarnia,” says Kerr of the filly’s posts in the Gold Series season opener at Hiawatha Horse Park in May. “Then she had the seven-hole in the elimination at London (June 23) and the trailer in the Final. These last three weeks are as good as she’s drawn.”

Porsche Hall’s run of good luck has extended through to Rideau Carleton where she will start from Post 5 in Thursday’s Gold Elimination, a 10-filly affair worth $96,017. All but one of the fillies entered in Thursday’s ninth race will return to Ottawa for the $130,000 Gold Final on Aug. 31, and Kerr says carving out a good trip is essential in a field of that size.

“It’s going to be a trip that’s going to win the race,” says the horseman, who trains and drives Porsche Hall for breeders Bet Max Stables Inc. of Casco, MI and Benenati Inc. of Clinton Township, MI. “Whoever gets the best trip will win it, and the one that gets the worst trip is going to be in trouble.”

With the kind of early speed that propelled her to a :27.2 opening quarter from Post 6 over a soggy Mohawk oval on Aug. 14, Porsche Hall has the skills required for navigating a good trip. In spite of her bad luck in the post position draws, the Angus Hall miss has been a consistent player on the Gold Series scene.

In her May 18 debut in Gold Elimination action at Hiawatha Horse Park the filly was second to Oaklea Odessa and fifth behind that filly in the Gold Final one week later. After those solid results Kerr gave Porsche Hall a shot at North America’s top sophomore trotting fillies in the Casual Breeze and Elegantimage Stakes at Woodbine Racetrack and the filly posted a fifth in her Casual Breeze division, a fourth in her Elegantimage elimination and a fifth in the consolation behind Pure Ivory.

Back in Gold action at Western Fair Raceway on June 23 Porsche Hall was second by a neck to Pure Ivory in her elimination and third in the Final. A miscue in the July 21 Canadian Breeders elimination at Mohawk saw the filly finish out of the money for the first time in her career, but she bounced back to score her first sophomore victory in the July 28 consolation.

Fourth in her Aug. 7 Gold Elimination, again behind Pure Ivory, Porsche Hall was finally able to collar the division leader with her come from behind effort in the Aug. 14 Gold Final.

“She’s been racing really well, she’s just had no luck,” notes Kerr. “And she’s hit Pure Ivory every time.”

Kerr says the winner of $219,161 recovered well from her Gold Final winning effort and seems to be heading into Thursday’s battle in fine fettle.

“We blew her out a slow trip yesterday (Sunday) and turned her out for a couple hours today (Monday),” says the trainer. “She’s really kept her weight up, actually she’s pretty heavy, but we’ll see how she does over the next two weeks. Eight hours in the trailer one way, that’s tough on them.”

Porsche Hall and her three-year-old trotting filly peers will face off in Race 9 on Thursday. Division leader Pure Ivory will start from Post 7 and John Bax’s always potent entry of Oaklea Odessa and Oaklea Omega will benefit from Posts 1 and 3.

Rideau Carleton Raceway sends its first race in behind the starting gate at 6:30 pm on Thursday.

For complete entries please go to:

http://www.standardbredcanada.ca/entries/data/eridcfth.html#N9