Georgian Downs: Midnight Miracle leads Gold Series victors

Mark Etsell's 2-year-old trotting fillies opened their Ontario Sires Stakes careers on a positive note Sunday night at Georgian Downs with Midnight Miracle scoring a win in her C$72,267 Gold Series division and Meadowview Lilly finishing third.

Midnight Miracle got a picture-perfect second-over trip from driver Bob McClure in the evening's first Gold Series battle. Starting from post two, McClure settled the Muscle Mass daughter in fourth and watched Tealicious ring up a 29 second quarter and 58 2/5 half. Heading for the 1:29 1/5 three-quarters, McClure tipped Midnight Miracle out behind Dashing Muscle, who was soon matching strides with the tiring pace-setter. When McClure asked for another gear in the stretch, Midnight Miracle powered by her peers and on to a 1 1/4 length victory in 1:58 4/5.

"I told Bobby to float her out of there and try to get away, top three I said, but he got four so that's okay. I said, 'Once she sees daylight she can kind of trot, but as soon as she doesn't see them she'll let up on you, so just be aware of that.' You time it kind of right, because she's green and she doesn't know any different. She knows enough to go by and then that's it and then she'll let up," said Etsell. "First lifetime start, so we were pretty happy with her, at least I was anyways, I don't know about anybody else, but I was."

Named Midnight Miracle due to a difficult birth, the filly has grown into a good-gaited and sensible filly who might just be a little spoiled by Etsell and his partners Robert Newton and Chuan Tan.

"She loves watermelon; she had a watermelon after she raced tonight and got out of the test barn. She loves watermelon and raspberries for some reason, I don't know why," said Etsell. "Bob Newton, when he comes down he brings her raspberries or something, stops at one of the grocery stores along the way."

Two races later Meadowview Lilly delivered a third-place finish behind favorite Fox Valley Liza and Blackout Riley, a result that delighted Etsell and Charlie Reid, whose Meadowview Farms Inc. bred and owns the Archangel daughter.

"She was good early, good-gaited and everything, but didn't have any attitude to go, but when we hit around 2:20 she started coming to life and we thought, 'you know, maybe we’ve got a couple,'” said Etsell, who also drove Meadowview Lilly on Sunday. "We were happy with both fillies. Both homebreds, I raced both their mothers."

Sent off as the heavy favorite in the second C$72,267 division, Fox Valley Liza and driver Sylvain Filion wasted no time assuring bettors they had made the correct choice. Starting from post six, the pair carved out all the fractions on their way to a three length victory in 1:59 2/5.

"She just came to me 10 days ago. She's exactly everything that Erv Miller told me - she's very professional, a very nice filly to be around and she won pretty handy," said trainer Ben Baillargeon, who received the Muscle Mass daughter from US-based trainer Ervin Miller after she finished second in a 2-year-old filly event at Pocono Downs on June 30. "She knows her business and Erv said she's been professional from Day One. She's like a 4-year-old horse, like a very nice mare."

Anthony Lombardi, Henshaut Stable, and George Golemes share ownership of Fox Valley Liza, who Baillargeon expects will remain in the province for the duration of the Ontario Sires Stakes season.

The last division went to Classy Carol who sprinted from sixth to first in the stretch, sneaking up the inside past pace-setting favorite Warrawee Welcome to claim the 2:01 1/5 victory. Flanagan Destiny and All R Wishes finished just over one length back in second and third.

"She's my daughter Robyn's favorite horse. She's spoiled and she's good-natured, good to be around, and turns out she wants to win, so that's even better," said trainer John Bax. "She wants to go ahead, and you can't teach that; they've either got it or they don't, so it's nice."

The Bax Stable, Robert Van Camp, Dave Hudson, and Gordon Wright share ownership of Classy Carol, who was a $40,000 purchase from the Lexington Selected Yearling Sale. Bax trained both the Royalty For Life daughter's dam Very Classy and her grand-dam Ruling Class.

Like Etsell, Bax had multiple fillies competing on Sunday and was pleased with the results of all three. In addition to Classy Carol's win, Kadabra daughter Up And Ready finished third to Midnight Miracle and Royalty For Life miss Lifeintheslammer was fifth behind Fox Valley Liza.

"We were pretty happy with them," said Bax. "They all did it right. Some have got to do it a little faster, but they all took positive steps ahead, that's for sure."

The 2-year-old trotting fillies will make their second Gold Series start at Woodbine Mohawk Park on July 31.

--press release (Ontario Sires Stakes)--