ELMIRA, ON — When the three-year-old trotting fillies parade onto Elmira Raceway’s half-mile oval for the last of six Grassroots divisions on Friday night, trainer Budd Thorne hopes to find the old adage “slow and steady wins the race” applies to more than just tortoises.
Thorne’s filly Royal Waltz has not set any speed records in her nine race career, but the Royal Ballad daughter has been the poster girl for consistency. Since her April 29 debut at Elmira the filly has recorded three wins, three seconds and two thirds for earnings of $14,593 and has accumulated 12 Grassroots points after two events.
“She’s not an exciting horse but she’s been consistent, that’s one thing you can say about her,” says Thorne. “And she likes it there (Elmira Raceway).”
Royal Waltz will make her third straight start at the Waterloo County oval from Post 1 on Friday night and Thorne hopes the lessons she has learned in recent weeks will allow her to match or improve on the pair of runner-up placings she logged July 26 and Aug. 2.
“We started her at London and she got into racing on the front end. When the fractions were easy it was easy for her to get there, but when the competition started getting tougher the front end wasn’t the place to be any more so we had to change some equipment on her,” Thorne explains. “Her last two starts there (Elmira) she raced pretty good from off the pace.”
Royal Waltz missed the win on Aug. 2 by a nose and Thorne felt her new bridle may have contributed to the narrow loss, allowing the winner to sneak up on her through the stretch.
“She still trotted home in :29.4, it was a good trip around there. Hopefully she can trot like that again,” says the trainer, who shares ownership on the filly with Betty Kowall of Guelph, Quarternote Stables of Richmond Hill and Martin Bandle of Etobicoke.
Last year’s Lampman Cup winning driver Don McElroy will pilot Royal Waltz in the tenth race on Friday night. The Ingersoll resident has driven the filly in all three of her victories and was in the race bike for her re-education races at Elmira. The duo will face seven other fillies angling for a share of the $15,530 purse, including former Gold Series competitor Dats Dixie.
Dats Dixie heads into Friday’s Grassroots contest off a 1:59 victory at Georgian Downs on Aug. 3, her first win in a season spent butting heads with the talented Gold Series fillies. Owned by trainer David Tingley of Guelph, King Stables of King City, Graham Simmonds of Toronto and Mark Gregory of East York, the Balanced Image daughter will make her Grassroots debut from Post 6 with Elmira regular Jim McClure in the race bike.
The three-year-old trotting fillies kick off Elmira Raceway’s Friday night program at 6:45 pm in the first race. They will also strut their stuff in Races 3, 4, 6, 8, and 10.