INNISFIL, ON — Ontario’s talented three-year-old pacing fillies will burst out of the starting gate at Georgian Downs on Tuesday evening, competing for a total of $108,000 in the first Grassroots event of the 2007 season.
Things will heat up early at the Innisfil oval with an impressive line-up of talent in the first division, including local favourite Secret Grin. Owned by Mardon Stables of Loretto, Secret Grin will power off the gate from the middle of the heavyweight line up, and trainer Bruce MacDonald is expecting a fight.
“It’s going to be tough,” says MacDonald. “The three-year-old pacing fillies are going to be pretty tough this year.”
A four-time winner in the Grassroots program at two, Secret Grin heads into the 2007 Ontario Sires Stakes campaign off a trio of starts at Woodbine Racetrack. The Grinfromeartoear daughter made her sophomore debut on April 20 and logged a solid fourth-place finish against older horses. In the first leg of the Princess Series on April 30 Secret Grin finished fifth, but developed a minor illness, so MacDonald skipped the remaining legs and gave her one last prep in an overnight on May 11 where she finished eighth.
“She won the last Trillium at Woodbine on Nov. 3 and then she had a good two months of R and R. We started her back right after the New Year and I was pointing her at the Princess, but we raced her in the first leg and she came up sick, so I took her out and got that corrected,” explains MacDonald. “I tried her in an overnight (May 11), and that was a pretty rough trip against older horses, so this week she should be reclassified to her liking.”
Among the fillies that Secret Grin will face in the Grassroots season opener are four who were top players on the freshman scene and two who have already visited the winner’s circle this season. The winner of $92,396 and driver Phil Hudon will start from Post 4 in the eight filly field, with most of their former rivals further to the outside of the starting gate.
Although Secret Grin displayed ample versatility last season, winning races on half, five-eighths and seven-eighths mile tracks, MacDonald admits that gunning for the front early may not be Hudon’s best tactic against the hard-hitting field he will face Tuesday.
“She can be a little aggressive,” says the Alliston resident. “If you start her up she wants to just keep on going from that point.”
While he does not want to see her fired up too early in Tuesday’s second race, MacDonald would love to see Secret Grin come out of the gate sharply in the points race for a berth in the Grassroots post season. Also looking for an early jump on the points race are freshman Gold Elimination winner Tymal Trinity, who starts from Post 8 in the first race, and Silver Reign Series winner Twin B Diva, who makes her Grassroots debut from Post 4 in Race 7.
The starters for the first Grassroots division of the season will answer the Georgian Downs call to the post at 7:35 pm Tuesday, with the other six divisions slated for Races 2, 3, 5, 7, 9 and 10.
For complete entries please go to: http://www.standardbredcanada.ca/entries/data/egeodftu.html