ELORA, ON — Daylon Mission may not be the flashiest filly in Monday’s $130,000 Gold Final, and her trip around the Grand River Raceway oval in last week’s elimination may not have been the smoothest, but trainer Wayne Henry says the filly has one attribute that could carry her a long way in this year’s two-year-old trotting filly division.

“She’s a fighter, she doesn’t give up, and that’s half the battle,” say the Arthur resident, who trains and drives Daylon Mission for his partners in the Henry Stable and Daniel McCann of Parkhill.

Leaving from Post 1 in her elimination last Monday, Daylon Mission made an early break that saw her spot the field more than 16 lengths. Then, as she and Henry made their way back into the fray, they suffered some incidental contact. In spite of those hurdles the Amigo Hall daughter managed to reel in all but Boots N Hearts and secure her invitation to Monday’s $130,000 Final.

“She had quite a few problems. She lost her footing, it was a little cuppy down on the inside, and the next time she got run into, and she still came back,” says the horseman. “Hopefully we’ll be a little lucky the next time.”

Henry and McCann purchased Daylon Mission out of last fall’s Forest City Yearling Sale for a mere $6,000, less than half of what they paid for her full sister in 2007. Daylon Mystique went on to win two Gold Eliminations and two Trillium events as a two-year-old last season and has banked just over $200,000 lifetime.

“I hope she’s as good as her sister,” says Henry, adding that there had been no indicators until last Monday that the filly was even in the same league as her successful sibling.

“She’s just an average kind of filly, nothing too glamourous. She just come along and did everything she was supposed to do,” he explains. “There’s nothing real special or anything about her.”

With more than 30 yearlings arriving at the Henry farm last fall, Daylon Mission did nothing to stand out through the winter, and her first two appearances on the racetrack were certainly nothing to get excited about. She made an early break in her first qualifier on June 22 at Mohawk Racetrack, and four days later she was off-stride twice in a Flamboro Downs qualifying effort.

Finally, on June 29 Daylon Mission delivered a solid qualifying line, touring Mohawk in 2:03.1, and she did it with enough style that Henry decided she deserved a crack at the Robert Stewart Stakes at Mohawk on July 5. The filly delivered another solid effort, trotting around the Campbellville oval in 2:01.2, but that was only good enough for a sixth-place finish in the fastest of the three divisions.

“I’ve had a lot of trouble getting my two-year-olds qualified. I seem to have to go two to three times. It must be all the fresh air up here,” quips Henry, adding that Daylon Mission will not need much work to prepare for Monday’s Final after the hectic pace of her early season.

“She’ll get trained Friday, tomorrow. I’ll just train her light, she doesn’t need a lot of work,” says the horseman. “She had a little heavy schedule there to get her qualified.”

Henry and Daylon Mission will line up at Post 3 in Monday’s Gold Final along with the top two finishers from each of the five eliminations. Elimination winners Sooner Than Later, Wilsonator, Boots N Hearts, Random Destiny and Little River Dance will start from Posts 2, 5, 8, 9 and 10 respectively. All 10 fillies will be taking aim on the 2:00.4 track record Wilsonator set capturing her division last week.

The $130,000 Gold Final goes postward as Race 10 on Grand River Raceway’s Monday evening program, which gets under way at 7 pm.

For complete entries please go to: http://www.standardbredcanada.ca/racing/entries/data/e0720grvrn.dat.