CAMPBELLVILLE, ON — Fresh off a win in the Canadian Breeders Championship, three-year-old trotting filly Pure Ivory returns to Mohawk Racetrack on Monday to begin defence of her Gold Final title.

After stumbling out of the blocks in the first two starts of her sophomore campaign, Pure Ivory has won five of her last six outings and regained the form that propelled her to a 2005 O’Brien Award as the nation’s top two-year-old trotting filly.

“Right now she’s in a stage similar to last year,” says Milton resident Steve Condren, who shares ownership on the winner of $688,379 with breeder Harry Rutherford of Mount Pleasant, Jerry Vanboekel of Bright and Christina Maxwell of Cambridge.

“She got off to a rough start, she was just too sharp, very fresh and too racy,” adds the driver. “She seems to have settled down now, she’s doing her business.”

After breaks marred her Casual Breeze and Elegantimage Elimination starts in June, Pure Ivory bounced back with a personal best 1:55 victory in the June 16 Elegantimage Consolation. Making her way to Western Fair Raceway for the second Gold Series of the season, the daughter of Striking Sahbra and Image Control swept through her elimination and the final, peeling almost two seconds off the London oval’s track record in the process.

Another track record followed, a 1:57.2 effort in the July 11 Trillium Series at Georgian Downs, and then Pure Ivory made her way to Mohawk for the July 21 Canadian Breeders Eliminations where she finished second to Merles Pearl from the trailing Post 11. In the July 29 Canadian Breeders Final Pure Ivory grabbed her fifth win of the year with 1:55.3 come from behind performance.

“She’s very versatile,” says Condren, who has successfully employed both off the pace and front end tactics with the filly this season. “She can trot fast if she has to, but I just like to let her do it where the money is, and usually that’s at the end of the mile.”

Condren will pilot Pure Ivory from Post 3 in the first $49,008 elimination on Monday, facing off against Canadian Breeders runner-up Oaklea Odessa from Post 1.

Brad Maxwell trains Pure Ivory and the Cambridge resident will also harness Meadowview Tiffy in the second elimination on Monday. The Angus Hall miss will benefit from Post 2 as she looks for her first win of the season.

“She’s a nice, big filly,” says Condren, who will steer Meadowview Tiffy on Monday for owner and breeder Meadowview Farms Inc. of Orono. “I think one day she’s going to go a big trip.”

Unlike her stablemate, Meadowview Tiffy opened the season with three solid outings against the best fillies in North America, finishing fourth in her Casual Breeze division, second in her Elegantimage Elimination and fifth in the Elegantimage Final, but she has struggled to replicate those results against her Ontario-sired peers.

In her sophomore Gold Series debut at Western Fair the half-sister to former Ontario Sires Stakes standout Meadowview Sunny finished fourth in her elimination and then made a break in the Final and finished eighth. Second to Oaklea Omega in the Trillium Series at Georgian Downs, she finished third in her Canadian Breeders Elimination to Oaklea Odessa, but could only manage a sixth-place finish from Post 10 in the Final.

“Meadowview Tiffy is a big, strong mare. She’s quite a bit bigger than Ivory,” notes Condren. “And she has a different gait. They’re both fairly handy, it’s hard to explain, just one’s bigger than the other.”

Both fillies will be looking for a top five finish to advance to the Aug. 14 Gold Final at Mohawk, the third Gold Final on their sophomore schedule.

Post time at Mohawk Racetrack on Monday evening is 7:20 pm and the three-year-old trotting fillies square off in Races 2 and 4.

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