CAMPBELLVILLE, ON — Pat Hunt has always believed that Summerhill Abra belonged with the province’s top three-year-old trotting fillies, and the novice trotter will finally have an opportunity to prove him right when she makes her Gold Series debut in the first of three $40,000 Eliminations at Mohawk Racetrack on Friday.

“I’ve been saying all along that she should be competitive in the Gold Series,” admits Hunt. “I’m not saying she’s going to go out and beat them, I just think she’s got that kind of talent.”

The Cambridge resident has seen glimpses of Summerhill Abra’s talent since her earliest lessons, but a series of growing pains prevented the daughter of Kadabra and Ruffinette from making her racing debut until this Spring. In an effort to give the filly a gentle introduction to the racing world and keep her options open through the summer stakes season, Hunt sent her to the Grassroots season opener at Western Fair Raceway in early June, but the young trotter made a late break and finished well out of the action.

A second foray into the Grassroots program, on June 24 at Grand River Raceway, netted Hunt and owners Glengate Farms of Campbellville the same result. Summerhill Abra made two missteps and failed to earn a share of the provincial purse money. Deciding that half-mile tracks were not the best spot for his leggy protege, Hunt entered her in a July 10 overnight at Mohawk and Summerhill Abra stepped off an impressive 1:57.3 victory.

Off that effort, her connections decided Summerhill Abra deserved a shot at the Canadian Breeders Championship, and she delivered a solid fourth-place effort in the elimination and finished second in a consolation event on July 25 to cement her entry into Friday’s Gold Series event.

“The first night Randy (Waples) won with her she raced pretty strong and he came back and said, �I think I’d be putting her in the Gold,'” recalls Hunt. “She’s got a powerful stride to her. Sitting behind her you can feel the power in her. Quick, quick speed; I’m not sure if she has that, but she has that toughness.”

Milton resident Waples will steer Summerhill Abra from Post 8 in the fourth race on Friday, facing a field of nine that includes Canadian Breeders Championship runner-up Pasadena Princess from Post 5 and third-place finisher Torch from Post 4.

“I thought we drew the toughest division in the Canadian Breeders — there were good ones in all the divisions, but more good ones in ours — but this one here I thought was a little easier,” says Hunt. “That’s not always the way it turns out of course, but on paper it looks like the easier division.”

The second elimination features reigning Gold Final champion Delphic from Post 3 and Canadian Breeders Champion Bella Dolce from Post 4, while the third split has Canadian Breeders elimination winners Jayporthasitall from Post 1 and Feels Like Magic from Post 7. The top three finishers from each elimination, plus one fourth-place finisher drawn by lot, will return to Mohawk Racetrack on Friday, Aug. 8 for the third $120,000 Gold Final on their calendar this summer.

Mohawk Racetrack fans can catch the three-year-old trotting fillies in Races 4, 6, and 8 on Friday’s program, which gets under way at 7:30 pm.

For complete entries please go to: http://www.standardbredcanada.ca/entries/data/emohsfr.html.