INNISFIL, ON — For the past two seasons, while owner Peter Heffering has been making himself noticeably absent from the racetrack when Precious Delight races, trainer Duane Marfisi has barely left her side. The Guelph resident calls the undefeated filly a once in a lifetime horse and he is determined to enjoy every second of her career.
“She’s great, she’s in the zone, she’s something else,” says Marfisi, superlatives racing off his tongue. “It is hard to get one like this. She is something special.”
Marfisi will accompany his charge back to Georgian Downs on Saturday night for the third $130,000 Gold Final on the sophomore fillies 2002 schedule and Precious Delight will be aiming for a remarkable 15th straight win from Post 2 in the tenth race.
Since her late summer debut as a two-year-old the Precious Bunny daughter has made a talented field of her peers look like second rate claimers, disposing of them week after week without seeming to break a sweat. On Saturday night eight fillies will once again attempt to dethrone the pacing queen, but with Precious Delight drawing inside her major competitors the odds seem stacked against them once again.
Marfisi’s only concern heading toward the filly’s 15th start is whether or not to add knee boots to her equipment on the five-eighths mile track.
“She pressed her knee a little in the elimination, it was just dirt on it,” he explains. “She is close to her knees, but I never wear boots on her. At Windsor last year I put Flashers (a type of boot) on her and I might put one on the inside for Saturday, we’ll see.”
Other than that Marfisi will not make any changes to the between races routine he established during Precious Delight’s stellar two-year-old season. After a Saturday evening race she spends two days loafing in the paddock and then Marfisi jogs her for half an hour on Tuesday. On Wednesday the filly will jog approximately five miles and then Thursday he trains two trips, with the rate of speed primarily determined by the filly. On Friday it is back to the paddock and then on to the races again Saturday night.
“She’s got a great schedule, she’s so cool,” says Marfisi. “On the day of a race I’ll clean her out first and she’ll lay down until lunchtime. She’ll get up to eat her lunch and then lay down again all afternoon.
“And you’ve seen how slow she goes in the post parade, that’s how she jogs. She’s very casual when it come to before a race.”
While the filly may be casual about her pre-race schedule she is anything but on the racetrack and if her peers mount a serious challenge on Saturday night the all-time Ontario Sires Stakes record of 1:52.1, set by Countryview Miss at Windsor last season, maybe in jeopardy.
Georgian Downs sends its first race behind the starting gate at 7:30 pm on Saturday and the tension in the grandstand will build for nine races until the three-year-old pacing fillies step onto the track for Race 10 and Precious Delight puts her flawless record on the line for the 15th time.