ELORA, ON — Ted Smith and Arthur Slack have been friends for 30 years, but on Monday, July 30 at Grand River Raceway the pair will be engaged in a bit of good-humoured rivalry.

Monday night’s program at the Elora oval features two Gold Eliminations and a trio of eliminations for the Battle of Waterloo. Smith and Slack each own shares in a Gold Series competitor and a Battle of Waterloo hopeful, but in the Gold Elimination their two-year-old pacing fillies will face off in the same race.

“I said, �We’re in against you, and I might beat you with my $30,000 horse,'” says Smith with a chuckle.

“We’ve been pals for 30 years, so if either wins it’ll be fine,” rejoins Slack, who makes his home in Cumbria, England, but is staying at Smith’s Rockwood home until the Gold Final and Battle of Waterloo are decided on Monday, Aug. 6.

The fillies, Charming Woman and Ms Harrington, will square off from Posts 1 and 4 in the seventh race on Grand River’s talent laden program this Monday. Smith owns one-quarter of Charming Woman and Slack’s George Arthur Stable owns a quarter of Ms Harrington.

Both fillies were purchased at last fall’s Forest City Yearling Sale, Charming Woman for $30,000 and Ms Harrington for a sale topping $180,000, and, although they are owned in partnership, Smith and Slack were the driving forces behind both acquisitions.

“I owned her dam Warrawee Delight. I bought her as a yearling and really enjoyed her. We raced her at two and then sold her in the November Harrisburg Sale and Peter Heffering bought her,” explains Smith. “I was out at Peter’s place two years ago walking through the fields and this filly came up and I asked Peter about her and he said, �That’s out of your mare, Warrawee Delight’ and I said, “God, that’s a good looking filly.'”

Smith was impressed with Charming Woman again last summer, and when he took Slack out to Heffering’s Port Perry farm his long time friend was also of the opinion that the daughter of Warrawee Delight and Astreos was the best of the bunch.

“I said, my God, that’s three times. I’m definitely going to buy her,” recalls Smith. “So I went to the Forest City Sale and bought her for $30,000. She was the only horse I bought there.”

While Smith was eagerly awaiting Charming Woman’s turn in the sales ring, Slack was gearing up for the appearance of the royally bred Ms Harrington, a daughter of Camluck and Idylwood Legend whose siblings include $1.1 million winner Lady Graceful and $303,977 winner Princess Callie.

“I liked her breeding and I liked the filly,” says Slack. “She’s a very, very correct filly. She has grand legs, grand joints, good feet; just everything about her I liked.”

Preferring to own shares in a number of horses rather than claim sole proprietorship, Smith joined forces with trainer Carl Jamieson of Princeton, Thomas Kyron of Etobicoke and Brian Paquet of Quebec, QC on Charming Woman, while Slack, Jamieson, and Kyron share ownership on Ms Harrington with Fred Brayford of Alliston and George Harrison of Lancashire, ENG.

Although the fillies trained together through the winter at Jamieson’s farm, Monday will be their first meeting on a racetrack. Charming Woman started her racing career with a fourth-place finish in the July 16 Gold Elimination at Georgian Downs, while Ms Harrington logged a fourth in the July 6 Flamboro Breeders Stakes at Flamboro Downs and a win in the July 21 Grassroots event at Georgian Downs.

“Carl said she was a little slow in coming, so maybe she’ll do nothing but improve,” says Slack of Ms Harrington. “Ours was quite an expensive one, but Ted’s might be the better one. They never know how much they cost.”

The friends will also be watching the Battle of Waterloo Eliminations closely. Slack owns a share in two-year-old pacing colt Samurai Seelster, who will start from Post 5 in the fifth race, and Smith owns a share of Keep In Control, who gets Post 2 in Race 9.

“Arthur has a tradition of going to the Battle of Waterloo, he’s won it twice,” points out Smith.

“We’ve had the good fortune to have shares in two that have won the Battle of Waterloo, Banner Yankee (2004) and Warrawee Ideal (2006),” agrees Slack. “This year we have Samurai Seelster and Ms Harrington.”

With two Gold Eliminations the freshman pacing fillies will need a top four finish to earn a ticket to the $130,000 Gold Final on Grand River Raceway’s signature Civic Holiday Monday card. Three eliminations mean that the two-year-old pacing colts will have to hit the top three to return to Elora for the $300,000 Battle of Waterloo Final on the Aug. 6 Industry Day program.

Post time at Grand River Raceway this Monday, July 31 is 7:30 pm, with the two-year-old pacing fillies ready to entertain fans in Races 3 and 7, while their masculine counterparts are showcased in Races 2, 5 and 9.

For complete entries please go to:

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