DRESDEN, ON — Monday is Appreciation Day at Dresden Raceway and fans are in for a treat. In addition to seven Grassroots divisions for the three-year-old trotting fillies, there is nonstop entertainment for the entire family throughout the afternoon.
Fans can feast on free hot buttered corn, enter their names in draws for cash and prizes and watch the kids delight in the clowns, face painting, petting zoo and pony rides.
The festivities get under way at 1:30 pm and the three-year-old trotting fillies will liven things up starting in Race 4. A total of 52 fillies will compete for $126,000, including Alan Fair’s Memories Of Texas who currently sits in a three-way tie for fourth in the division standings and will be looking to add to her point tally from Post 6 in the sixth race.
“We drew terrible. She hasn’t drawn any good since I don’t know when,” laments Fair. “But she should race well. Hopefully we’ll get a decent trip.”
Fair and his wife Cloah bred and own Memories Of Texas, who has been a consistent player on the Ontario Sires Stakes scene for the last two years, earning $38,707 in the program as a two-year-old and adding $20,732 through two Gold and two Grassroots starts this season.
The Wesgate Crown lass made her three-year-old debut in Gold Series action at Mohawk Racetrack on May 12 where she finished second in a Gold Elimination. She made an unfortunate break in the Final that left her off the board and convinced Fair to move her back to the Grassroots for her second provincial outing. On July 12 at Sudbury Downs she captured her Grassroots division with an effortless 2:04 score and then finished fourth at Hanover Raceway on Aug. 2 off a tough trip behind eventual winner Independent Woman, who she will face again Monday.
“She likes to leave if she can, but there’s some inside with early speed,” notes the trainer. “I bet Wayne Henry’s going to go out big time with Independent Woman so there’s going to be speed up front, and it might not be the best place to be.”
Michael Langdon, who engineered the filly’s Sudbury victory will return to the race bike on Monday and in addition to Independent Woman from Post 2 the reinsman will have his eyes peeled for Gold Series regular North To Alaska from Post 1.
“It’s tough. There’s some decent fillies in there,” says Fair. “But I think she’ll race well. I trained her today and she trained really well. I was very pleased.”
The first Grassroots division for the sophomore trotting fillies parades onto Dresden Raceway’s half-mile oval in Race 4 and the remaining six divisions go postward as Races 6, 8, 10, 12, 14 and 16.