DUNDAS, ON — Ontario Sires Stakes action returns to Flamboro Downs on Friday afternoon with two Gold Series Eliminations for the talented two-year-old pacing fillies.
Waterdown resident Scott McEneny will harness three fillies in the pair of $61,871 eliminations, sending Sentbytheangels and Cheapertokeeper to the post in Race 6 and Elegantreflection behind the gate in Race 9. All three fillies will make their Gold Series debut on Friday, and McEneny hopes the trio can advance to the $130,000 Final on Sept. 26 and earn a few points toward a berth in the season ending Super Final.
“They’ve still got a couple of stakes left so hopefully they can make some money and earn some points,” says the trainer. “All three of them will be nice fillies for next year.”
Sentbytheangels earned her shot at the Gold Series with a solid performance in a Sept. 12 qualifier at Mohawk Racetrack. The Run The Table lass started her season in late July, but ran into a few problems that resulted in lacklustre results in a pair of overnight events at Woodbine Racetrack. McEneny went back to the drawing board and is hopeful that Sentbytheangels will be able to display her real ability on Friday.
“She qualified real good at the start, but then she got on one line. She was pacing in 1:56, but you couldn’t give her her head because she was on one line so bad,” he explains. “She had a tooth bothering her and a splint bothering her, so we got that straightened out and she qualified very well last week.
“She’s a nice filly. She’s very green, but she’s very good on a half,” he adds.
McEneny trains Sentbytheangels for Canamerica Capital Corp. and Hyatt Holdings Inc. of Milton, and regular reinsman Steve Condren will pilot her from Post 2 in the sixth race on Friday.
Cheapertokeeper will start alongside her stablemate from Post 3, with Chris Christoforou aboard. The Grinfromeartoear daughter heads into her first Gold Series Elimination off a fifth-place finish in the Harvest Stakes at Mohawk on Sept. 12, but her connections are expecting a stronger performance this week.
“Last week she got a little mad behind the gate and I think we shut her wind down. We scoped her after the race and her throat didn’t look very good,” explains McEneny. “She’s a very green filly with a lot of talent. Two weeks ago she was second in 1:53.2.”
The Waterdown resident shares ownership on Cheapertokeeper with John Fielding of Toronto and Zal Hagopian of Mississauga. A half-sister to $123,959 winner Queen Caroline, Cheapertokeeper boasts a record of three wins and one third in six starts with earnings of $36,403.
The least experienced member of McEneny’s talented trio is Elegantreflection, who makes her career debut from Post 2 in the ninth race. Another daughter of Grinfromeartoear, Elegantreflection heads into Friday’s battle with just a Sept. 9 qualifier under her belt.
“She’s a very nice filly. She could be the best one of the three,” says McEneny. “I’ve been taking my time with her because she’s very immature. I wasn’t going to start her, but they need two starts in the Gold to make the Super Final so I thought we’d give her a shot.”
Hyatt Holdings Inc. and John Fielding share ownership on Elegantreflection, the half-sister to an impressive line-up of siblings including $376,168 winner Decor. The partners anted up $43,000 US at last fall’s Harrisburg sale to acquire the youngster.
Among the fillies that McEneny’s trio will face are Gold Final winners Double Creme and Taylor Lynne, who will face off in the sixth race from Post 1 and Post 7.
Flamboro Downs sends its first race to the post at 2:45 on Friday afternoon and turns the spotlight on the gifted two-year-old pacing fillies in Races 6 and 9. The top four fillies from each elimination will return to the Dundas oval on Sept. 26 for the fourth $130,000 Gold Final on their 2003 schedule.