Grand River: Hot weather, fast miles in OSS Gold Series
Grand River Raceway fans were treated to a gorgeous August evening and a pair of sizzling performances by the 3-year-old trotting fillies on Wednesday, Aug. 25.
At post time, the Ontario Sires Stakes and Canadian record was 1:55 4/5, set by Bright Eyes M at Grand River Raceway in 2019 and equalled by Massive Flirt at Flamboro Downs in 2020. By 9 p.m., it had been lowered by the winners of both Gold Series divisions. HP Mama B stripped three-fifths of a second off the record in the first split, and Imextraspecial dropped it by another fraction in the second.
HP Mama B and driver Sylvain Filion lined up at post five in the C$100,600 opener and found themselves parked in the outer lane through a 27 4/5 quarter clocked by You Will Be Queen. The favorite made her way to the front before the 56 2/5 half and by the 1:25.3 three-quarters HP Mama B had opened up two lengths on her peers. In the stretch she extended that margin to three lengths, stopping the clock in a record-setting 1:55 1/5. You Will Be Queen finished second, and Dicentra was another length back in fourth.
"She had to work for it tonight, well she comes to race all the time, but she worked pretty hard, she had enough at the wire tonight," said trainer Ben Baillargeon, who was concerned about how the Royalty For Life daughter would handle Wednesday's heat and humidity. "This is the only thing that worried me was the weather. I hardly warmed her up tonight. I didn't want to do too much with her, but she raced good. She overcame it, sign of a good mare."
HP Mama B was also victorious in the July 1 Gold Series season opener at Woodbine Mohawk Park and the July 17 leg at Georgian Downs. She finished second in the third leg to Imextraspecial. The Royalty For Life daughter also has two wins in Woodbine Mohawk Park overnight action to her credit, the first on June 18 and the most recent in a personal- best 1:53 1/5 on Aug. 16.
Baillargeon, who also bred HP Mama B, trains the winner of C$296,287 for his wife Guylaine Picard and their family friend Celine Paquin.
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Three races later Trevor Henry and Imextraspecial left smartly from post six and found themselves parked to a 27 4/5 opening quarter. Once Imextraspecial had established command, Henry dialed the tempo back through a 57 second half and 1:26 2/5 three-quarters, and then the filly dug in for a stretch battle that saw her flanked on the right and left by Hawaii and Midnight Miracle. Imextraspecial kept a stubborn neck in front for the 1:55 record-setting score, leaving the challengers to settle for second and third, respectively.
"Every trip is not going to be easy. Sometimes you get the good hole, good trip, but it was not the case tonight. She had to work her butt off to get to the front, and fortunate enough Trevor got them shut down a bit and we could hang on," said trainer Paul Walker, whose primary concern was whether the filly would be sharp enough coming off a three week break. "I was trying to look ahead a little bit. She's got tough races the next four weeks, and I just thought, 'well, I'm going to take a chance and see if I can get her tight enough to do the job.' You hope you make the right decision, but you don't know at the time. A good horse will bail a trainer out most times."
Imextraspecial's Gold Series wins came at Georgian Downs on July 17 and Woodbine Mohawk Park on Aug. 6. She finished second to HP Mama B in the July 1 season opener. In addition to her Gold wins, the Muscle Mass daughter was a winner in overnight action at Woodbine Mohawk Park on July 26.
Walker trains the winner of C$444,178 for owner Keith Coulter. Imextraspecial also set a track, Ontario Sires Stakes and Canadian record in Gold Series action as a 2-year-old. That record was lowered earlier this summer by Adare Castle.
So long as they remain happy and healthy, Gold Series co-leaders HP Mama B and Imextraspecial will make their next start in the Sept. 3 Casual Breeze stake at Woodbine Mohawk Park. Imextraspecial is also eligible to the Sept. 18 Elegantimage, which will be limited to the 10 horses with the highest lifetime earnings at the time of entry, and the Sept. 25 Simcoe Stakes.
"Casual Breeze next week, she'll hopefully be in the hunt for something," said Walker. "Hopefully we can give the Americans a bit of a tussle. They always come with some pretty good horses, that's for sure."
The 3-year-old trotting fillies will return to Gold Series action on Sept. 28 at Woodbine Mohawk Park.
--press release (Ontario Sires Stakes)--