CAMPBELLVILLE, ON — Coming off a 1:53.1 track and Canadian record in her Simcoe Stakes victory last week, Pure Ivory will be looking for a fourth Gold Series triumph when she and her three-year-old trotting filly peers return to Mohawk Racetrack on Thursday.

“It was beautiful,” says owner Jerry Vanboekel about Pure Ivory’s Simcoe victory. “Last year she won a $300,000 race, but, to me, this was more important. That was one heck of a mile. It will be pretty hard to beat it.”

The Bright resident shares ownership on Pure Ivory with driver Steve Condren of Milton, breeder Harry Rutherford of Mount Pleasant and trainer Brad Maxwell’s wife Christina Maxwell of Cambridge. The group will watch Condren pilot the Striking Sahbra daughter from Post 4 on Thursday and Vanboekel expects her to be the Mohawk fans’ top choice in the six filly field.

“On paper it looks like the easier division, but you never know, it’s always a horse race,” he says. “Hopefully, if everything goes right, she’ll make the Final. Only one doesn’t make it.”

Pure Ivory’s record setting performance in the $252,052 Simcoe followed a trio of disappointing finishes in the Gold Series. After winning five of six starts from mid-June to early August, the filly was caught at the wire by Porsche Hall in the Aug. 14 Gold Final at Mohawk. Ten days later the fillies travelled to Rideau Carleton Raceway and Porsche Hall knocked off the fan favourite for a second straight week. Then, in the Aug. 31 Gold Final at Rideau Carleton, Pure Ivory suffered interference at the halfway marker and made a break, recovering to finish fifth, while Porsche Hall extended her win streak to three.

“You have some ups and downs, some disappointments and then get some good times,” says a philosophical Vanboekel. “You can’t knock that horse of Terry Kerr’s (Porsche Hall). She’s a nice filly.”

Porsche Hall was not eligible for the Simcoe Stakes and will start from Post 1 in the second Gold Elimination on Thursday, so the earliest the fillies will resume their rivalry is next week’s $130,000 Gold Final. Heading into the last regular season event Porsche Hall sits first and Pure Ivory second in the division standings, so they will also square off in the $300,000 Super Final at Woodbine Racetrack on Oct. 14.

“If she makes the final she’ll race the next two weeks and then she’ll be off for three weeks,” says Vanboekel about the filly’s schedule. “I don’t know if that’s good or bad. Brad says it’s maybe too long, but it’s the same for all of them.”

Following the Super Final the partners hope to watch Pure Ivory compete against North America’s best sophomore trotters in the Oct. 21 eliminations and Oct. 28 final of the Breeders Crown at Woodbine.

“It’s right at home,” says Vanboekel. “She’ll never leave Ontario this year. In fact she’s only left the Jockey Club (WEG) twice, Ottawa and Western Fair, and we maybe we should have stayed home from Ottawa, but that’s hind sight.”

Nine years ago Vanboekel shared ownership on another Ontario Sires Stakes superstar, who finished second in her Breeders Crown bid, and he would love to see Pure Ivory improve on $955,368 winner Elegantimage’s 1997 effort.

“You can’t exactly compare her to Elegantimage,” says the owner. “But, in my book, she’s every bit as good.”

Mohawk Racetrack’s first two races will showcase the gifted three-year-old trotting fillies on Thursday, Sept. 14, with Pure Ivory and her peers rolling in behind the gate at 7:20 pm.

For complete entries please go to:

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