REXDALE, ON — In the first of three Gold Series events scheduled for the Civic Holiday weekend, Woodbine Racetrack fans were treated to an impressive display by the three-year-old pacing fillies on Friday evening.
Rocket N Rollit reeled off the fastest of the two Gold Eliminations, stopping the clock at 1:52.1 with an sharp come-from-behind effort. Leaving from Post 1 trainer-driver Rick Zeron settled the Pacific Rocket daughter in third while Maple Lady led the field through fractions of :27.2, :56.3 and 1:24.3. Heading around the final turn Zeron sent Rocket N Rollit up the outside and the filly powered by Maple Lady in the stretch to record the one length victory.
“She brought her �A’-game tonight,” said Oakville resident Zeron after the race. “She got bunched-up twice last week, and I knew if I got her up close tonight I’d give them a run for their money.”
Not eligible for the Canadian Breeders Championship, Rocket N Rollit honed her skills in overnight events at Woodbine on July 11, 17 and 25. She captured the July 17 contest in 1:54.2 and was fourth last Friday in a 1:52.2 skirmish. The Gold Elimination victory was Rocket N Rollit’s fifth of the season and her first in provincial competition.
“Every time she has been going for money we have had something go wrong,” added Zeron, who co-owns the filly with Ed McHale’s Marmatt Farms of Woodlawn. “It has turned out to be kind of comical. I was thinking of a horse’s name the other day and I phoned Eddie up to get the right name and Eddie goes, “What’s wrong with the mare?!””
Rocket N Rollit will lead a contingent of five from the first elimination into next Friday’s $130,000 Gold Final. In addition to Maple Lady, Armbro Athletic, Ascending and Feathery Fame will receive engraved invitations for the Aug. 8 Final.
The other division went to heavy favourite Burning Point, who waltzed uncontested around the five-eighths mile oval in a comfortable 1:53.
Also ineligible to the Canadian Breeders Championship, Burning Point has spent the weeks since her June 23 Gold Final victory racing against the top fillies and mares at Woodbine. The Camluck filly captured a three-year-old open on July 4 in 1:52.3, finished second in the fillies and mares open on July 18 and then came back on July 25 to defeat the top pacing mares in the province with a 1:52.1 effort.
“She has learned to be more versatile. She can race almost any way that you want to race her,” said driver Kevin Wallis of the filly’s foray into open class competition. “She raced well tonight. She got a lot of respect from the other horses and I guess she deserved it.”
Linda Wallis trains Burning Point for the Cuzzins Stable of Boca Raton, FL. The $273,832 winner was such a heavy favourite heading into Friday’s Gold Elimination that Woodbine officials opted not to allow show wagering on the race.
Joining Burning Point in the Aug. 8 Final from the second elimination are runner-up Please Me Please, third-place finisher Northern Harmony and fourth and fifth-place finishers A And Gs Dream and Jasper Avenue.
The second Gold event on Woodbine’s stakes laden holiday weekend goes postward Saturday at 7:40 pm when the exciting three-year-old pacing colts arrive in town for three Gold Eliminations.