SARNIA, ON — Jim Ainsworth will start a trio of fillies in Grassroots action at Hiawatha Horse Park on Thursday evening, and while they all share the �Supreme’ suffix the two-year-old pacers have little else in common.
First out of the Ainsworth barn will be two-time Grassroots winner Teacher Supreme and her trainer says the filly has the ability to overcome the difficult Post 9, as long as she applies herself to the task at hand.
“She has the speed and talent to win it. It’s just a matter of how difficult she makes it on herself,” says the Sarnia resident. “Hopefully the home court advantage will be an advantage, and not a disadvantage.”
Bred by Larry Ainsworth of Petrolia and Christopher Baron of Inglewood, Teacher Supreme is the daughter of Dexter Nukes and former Ainsworth protege Armbro Teacher. The filly heads into Thursday’s $17,821 contest off a fifth-place finish in a Sept. 9 division of the Flamboro Breeders Stakes where she demonstrated her truculent nature by refusing to approach the gate after a recall.
“I was hoping she would race better at Flamboro,” says Ainsworth. “I was watching it on TV and I didn’t realise they had a recall. The first time Reg (Gassien) put her on the gate she was perfect, but the second time she wouldn’t go up to it. She spotted them 15 or 20 lengths at the quarter pole.
“She’s certainly not ignorant or anything like that to work around, or be around. She just lacks a few brains sometimes.”
Ainsworth shares ownership on Teacher Supreme with Claude Pearson of Tilbury and William Boden of Vancouver, BC.
Boden and Ainsworth also own Maryanne Supreme, along with Norman and Amanda Walker’s Rocknhorse Stables Canada of Sarnia and Martwest Racing Stable of Mississauga. The daughter of Camluck and Ruthellenkillean — a winner of $391,998 under Ainsworth’s tutelage — has been fighting off illness since her July 10 debut and her owners are hoping Thursday’s outing sees the filly return to her early season form.
“She’s been battling health problems,” explains Ainsworth. “I’ve had a lot of trouble with sick horses, and I’m not the only one, but I think we have her right now. She trained good this morning (Monday), so no excuses.
Of his three freshman pacing lasses, Maryanne Supreme impressed Ainsworth the most during the early stages of her education, but the filly has struggled to match her performance with her potential through her first four starts. A winner in the July 23 Grassroots event at Hanover Raceway, her other starts have produced one fifth, one eighth and one eleventh-place finish.
“Going into the year she was actually the better filly, at least I thought so,” notes the veteran horseman. “Training down all winter there was no comparison between the mares.
“I think she should be all right Thursday, she’s got the post position. I don’t know the other horses, but I know her, and I think she can go enough to win it,” he adds.
Maryanne Supreme will start from Post 2 in the fifth race Thursday, while Snooze Supreme gets Post 2 in Race 10.
“She hasn’t got the talent the other two have,” says the trainer. “But she raced really good her last start. I kept her off the pace and brushed her coming home and she paced home in :28.1.”
Bred and owned by Larry Ainsworth and Martwest Racing Stable, Snooze Supreme has been showing steady improvement since her Aug. 11 racing debut, and Ainsworth hopes Thursday’s outing moves the Dexter Nukes daughter another step further along her learning curve.
�I think she’s ready to pace in the 1:56 or 1:57 range,” he says. “I don’t know if that will be enough, but we’ll see what she can get.
“We’re hoping we have a good night Thursday,” he adds.
Ontario’s talented two-year-old pacing fillies will open Hiawatha Horse Park’s Thursday evening program at 7:30 pm and then display their skills in Races 2, 5, 6, 8, and 9.
For a complete list of entries please go to:
http://www.standardbredcanada.ca/entries/data/esarfth.html