FRASERVILLE, ON — Wanabeamillionaire looked sharp in her 2003 debut at Kawartha Downs on Saturday evening, capturing the fastest of three Gold Series Eliminations for the sophomore trotting fillies.
The Mr Lavec daughter and driver Trevor Ritchie fired off the gate from Post 2 and relaxed on the front end, rolling through fractions of :28.2, :58.3 and 1:27.4 en route to the 1:58.1 victory over Clarice Marie and Zoboomafoo.
Wanabeamillionaire is a recent arrival in the Scott McEneny barn and prepped for her 2003 Ontario Sires Stakes debut with a July 1 qualifier at Mohawk where she trotted a steady 2:00 mile with Ritchie in the race bike. Robert Waxman of Ancaster owns the filly, who earned $208,902 as a two-year-old.
Kawartha fans sent the filly off as their third choice behind Zoboomafoo and Clarice Marie and as a result Wanabeamillionaire returned $11.50 for a win ticket, $4.20 to place and $3.00 to show. Clarice Marie’s second-place effort delivered $4.00 on a place voucher and $3.90 to show, while Zoboomafoo returned just $2.60 to show. The exactor was worth $40.50 and the triactor paid $111.10.
Ritchie captured a second Gold Elimination when he piloted regular mount Wescott to a wire-to-wire victory in the sixth race. The Wesgate Crown daughter sailed easily through fractions of :29.4, 1:00.2 and 1:29.1 then held off a challenge from North To Alaska to record the 1:58.4 win by three-quarters of a length. Longshot Fosse delivered a solid performance up the outside to claim the third-place finisher’s share of the $36,407 purse.
David Jannone trains the winner of $215,902 for Wescott LLC of Neenah, WI. Saturday’s victory was Wescott’s second Gold Elimination win this season and her connections will be hoping for a more favourable spot on the starting gate than the Post 10 they drew in the May Gold Final at Mohawk Racetrack.
The first elimination of the evening featured a sizeable upset as heavy favourite Queen Of Jewels and second and third choices Noccan Enter and Excusez Moi all made costly breaks that dropped them out of contention. Veteran trotting horseman Paul Walker and Chelemark Ginger took full advantage of the early miscues by grabbing control from Steve Byron and Aimees Image just before the pedestrian 1:02.4 half, and sprinting away from the field.
At the three-quarters Chelemark Ginger was eight and a half lengths on top and while the field made steady gains through the last quarter the filly still hit the wire three and three-quarter lengths ahead of Aimees Image and Greatest Desire, halting the teletimer at 2:00.4.
Owen Sound resident Walker shares ownership on Chelemark Ginger with his long time partners Carscot Stables of Toronto. The Super Pleasure daughter was making her first start in Ontario Sires Stakes competition and just her sixth start lifetime. The win boosted her record to two wins and two seconds in six starts for earnings of $35,203.
Fans who liked Chelemark Ginger’s chances earned $17.40, $7.20 and $3.90. Those who opted for John Bax trainee Aimees Image collected $14.20 and $6.50, while Greatest Desire returned $5.20 to show. The exactor was worth $285.80 and there were no tickets sold on the 1 – 4 – 7 triactor so any fan holding a triactor voucher with 1 and 4 as the first two numbers picked up $285.40 regardless of which filly they had selected to finish third.
The top three finishers from each elimination will return to the Kawartha Downs five-eighths mile oval on Saturday, July 12 for the second $130,000 Gold Series Final on their sophomore stakes schedule.