DRESDEN, ON — Monday’s Grassroots event at Dresden Raceway will be a homecoming for two-year-old trotting filly Windsong Erica, and Malcolm MacPhail hopes the filly’s return is a profitable one.

“I trained her in Dresden all winter and then took her up to Paul Walker as soon as he got home from Georgia,” explains MacPhail. “We’ll put her back in her old stall, and race her from her old stall.”

Walker will pilot the filly from Post 7 in the first of six $17,161 Grassroots divisions, so MacPhail is tempering his expectations.

“She didn’t draw very good, she’ll have the outside rail,” says the Dover Centre resident, who shares ownership on Windsong Erica with his brother Robert MacPhail of Dover Centre and breeder William Loyens of London. “A second wouldn’t be bad out of the seven-hole, and getting a cheque would be better than nothing.”

Windsong Erica has collected a cheque in each of her first three starts, finishing fourth in an overnight event at Georgian Downs on July 8, fourth in her Gold Elimination at Georgian Downs on July 17 and fifth in a leg of the In Free Trotting Series at Mohawk Racetrack on July 22. The daughter of Malabar Maple and Profabe has lowered her personal best in each start, but her connections decided not to take a second run at the Gold Series, opting instead for her return to Dresden on Monday.

“We tried the Gold in Barrie and she only finished fourth,” notes MacPhail. “She’s not Gold material, so we’ll race her in the Grassroots and hope she turns to Gold next year.

“We raced her in Toronto in that series and she trotted in 2:00, last quarter in :28.2, and finished fifth, so we didn’t go back for the next one,” he adds with a wry chuckle.

With the Gold Series fillies setting track and Ontario Sires Stakes records in their first two events, Windsong Erica will be joined at Dresden by nine other fillies who took a crack at the top level and are now searching for a less intense path to provincial success. Among the seven fillies Windsong Erica will face in the first race are five who competed in the Grassroots season opener at Georgian Downs in July 21.

The two-year-old trotting fillies kick off Dresden Raceway’s Civic Holiday Monday program at 1 pm, and will also be showcased in Races 3, 5, 7, 9, and 11.

For complete entries please go to:

http://www.standardbredcanada.ca/entries/data/edresmo.html