INNISFIL, ON — Ontario’s top three-year-old trotting fillies wrap up their Grassroots season at Georgian Downs on Saturday with six divisions worth a total of $95,322.
Among the fillies hoping to use the final event to shore up their point total is Robert Atkin trainee Carla, who currently sits just seven points above the cut off for a berth in the Grassroots Semifinal at Georgian Downs on Oct. 23. A Gold Series competitor at two, the regally bred daughter of Balanced Image and S B Fuchsias Dream has tallied three seconds and one third in four Grassroots starts this season.
“She’s been a little disappointing, but she is racing good and trotting good right now,” says Atkin, who trains the $130,000 yearling for Millar Farms of Newmarket.
Atkin has struggled to keep Carla’s muscle count on an even keel this season and has designed a training regimen which helps the filly maintain her health and fitness level without placing her under any unnecessary stress.
“We are training her a trip every day right now, around 2:30 to 2:35, to try and keep her built up without putting too many stressful miles on her,” says the Mount Albert resident. “And she actually lives outside most of the time. We can keep her out in the fresh air as much as we can.”
Carla and regular driver Randy Fritz will make their bid for another top three finish from Post 7 in the tenth race on Saturday and Atkin is hoping the filly can position herself early and then deliver a solid finishing kick.
“She hadn’t been leaving much, but Randy left with her there in the (Sept. 21) non-winners of two and she finished fourth. She showed a little speed,” says the trainer. “The best trip she went, and she’s only won one this year, was on the front end. So she’s got some speed and hopefully she can put together a little better last quarter for us.”
The filly heads into the race off a disappointing seventh-place finish in an Oct. 1 Flamboro Breeders event, which Atkin hopes is not reflective of what fans can expect on Saturday.
“I don’t think she likes the track at Flamboro very much,” he says. “We checked everything out afterward and she was good, I just don’t think she was grabbing the track very well.”
Among the fillies Carla will face in her bid to pad her point total on Saturday is three time Grassroots winner Tenacious Dream, who will start from Post 6 in the tenth race.
The three-year-old trotting fillies are also featured in Races 1, 2, 4, 6, and 8 on Georgian Downs’ Saturday evening program, with the first $15,747 division going postward at 7:30 pm.