GLOUCESTER, ON — This Friday, Aug. 10, Rideau Carleton Raceway fans will witness a first in the history of the Ontario Sires Stakes program.

With only nine three-year-old pacing fillies entered for last week’s Gold Elimination, the race was cancelled, all nine fillies were entered in this Friday’s Gold Final, and the money allocated to the elimination was added to the final. As a result, Friday’s Gold Final will be worth a cool $243,500.

“I think it increases excitement for the race,” says trainer John Pentland, who will harness two starters in the rich final. “A $130,000 race is an important race, but in a sense it gets kind of old hat. All of a sudden it’s a quarter of a million race; it raises the excitement for the fans.”

A rule change implemented by the Ontario Sires Stakes program’s administrators in 2007, last week’s elimination was the first of the season to draw just one field, causing the cancellation and rolling forward of the purse money. Coming at the mid-point in the sophomore pacing fillies season, and following hot on the heels of the recent Canadian Breeders Championship, Pentland thinks the extra week off will benefit all nine contestants.

“These fillies in the middle of the season need a week off,” asserts the Dorchester resident. “I think you owe it to the horses to give them a week off if you can.”

Pentland is particularly grateful for the additional week of rest for his Camluck daughters — last year’s division champion Luck Of Michelle and the season opening Gold Final winner Jans Luck. The pair were struck by a virus that went through Pentland’s barn in June, and have just started to demonstrate a return to form.

“The whole barn got sick about five or six weeks ago and I didn’t appreciate how it affected the older horses,” explains the trainer, noting that the symptoms of the virus were far more obvious among his two-year-olds.

“The last two weeks they have been feeling stronger, eating well and training and racing better,” he continues. “They seem to be getting stronger every week.”

In their first start back following the virus, the July 20 Canadian Breeders Championship eliminations at Mohawk Racetrack, Jans Luck finished fourth in her division and Luck Of Michelle was second. In the July 28 Championship, Jans Luck finished second, one and three-quarter lengths behind winner Milliondollarsmile, and Luck Of Michelle was third, two and a half lengths behind her stablemate.

On Friday Jans Luck will make her bid for a second Gold Final title from Post 4, while Luck Of Michelle will be searching for the first Ontario Sires Stakes victory of her sophomore season from Post 8.

“Obviously, I wish Michelle was further inside, but I’m the last one to grumble. I’ve had good luck with post positions this summer,” says Pentland. “And if they race anywhere near where they did last week, I’ll be very happy.”

Her last two races have seen Luck Of Michelle and driver Mike Saftic employ a different strategy than the one they used to amass the filly’s $689,652 freshman bankroll. Usually found controlling the pace, in the Canadian Breeders Championship Luck Of Michelle sat behind the pacesetter in both the elimination and final.

“Last year you didn’t want to see her caught in behind somebody, but this year she’s able to use that gate speed to work out a trip, and not have to do all the work on the front end,” notes the horseman, whose wife Natalie Pentland of Dorchester shares ownership on Luck Of Michelle with Karen Carroll of Shedden. “I think it works out well for her.”

Natalie Pentland also shares ownership on Jans Luck with CJS Stables Inc. of London. The filly currently tops the race toward the season ending Super Final, with 130 points earned in the first two Gold events of the season.

Pentland’s fillies and their peers will square off in the $243,500 Gold Final in the tenth race on Rideau Carleton Raceway’s Friday evening program, which gets under way at 6:30 pm.

For complete entries please go to:

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