INNISFIL, ON — Fifteen and counting.
Precious Delight’s awesome win streak showed no signs of coming to a halt on Saturday night at Georgian Downs when she posted a four and one quarter length 1:53 victory. In fact, Georgian Downs management felt the filly would be such a tremendous favourite in the $130,000 Gold Final there was no show wagering on the tenth race.
As has become their habit, driver Steve Condren and Precious Delight eased off the gate into third, took control off the race before the halfway marker and were seven lengths ahead at the top of the stretch. As Condren waved to the crowd runner-up Lady Graceful narrowed the gap slightly while Nicki Newton tired of following the division superstar through the early going and had to settle for third.
With Precious Delight’s owner Peter Heffering of Port Perry and trainer Duane Marfisi of Guelph making plans to send the filly to New Jersey for the Mistletoe Shalee Stakes on July 26, the rest of the division was celebrating the fact that she will miss the next Gold Series, Aug. 2 and 9 at Woodbine Racetrack.
The Precious Bunny daughter has been invincible since her late summer debut as a two-year-old and performances like Saturday’s, which featured a :27.4 final quarter, give the rest of the three-year-old filly contestants faint hope of ever capturing their own Gold Series trophy.
If she remains healthy and sharp Heffering and Marfisi are also aiming the filly toward the Fan Hanover Stake at Woodbine on Aug. 17 and the Grand Circuit events at Mohawk Racetrack in September. If she wows American audiences the way she has those in Ontario they will then start preparing her for the Breeders Crown at Woodbine in October.