Grand River: Track record falls in OSS Gold Series

Odds-on favorites R Liza and Willys Home Run were the winners in a pair of C$95,000 Ontario Sires Stakes Gold Series sections for 3-year-old trotting fillies on Monday evening.

R Liza (Jody Jamieson) won by two lengths in a track record 1:54 2/5 after she led her four rivals through fractions of 28, 57 2/5 and 1:26 1/5. Valentine Bluechip (Doug McNair) was second and P L Rainbow Dash (Bob McClure) finished third.

A daughter of Muscle Mass bred by Kentuckiana Farms, R Liza is trained by Susie Kerwood for owners M & L Of Delaware LLC. and Alabama Harness Associates. She has nine career victories, has earned C$415,107 and paid $3.70 to win.

Kinnder Hotblood (Matt Bax put up opening-half panels of 28 3/5 and 58 2/5 in the other flight and then battled with a first-over Valuable Miss (Trevor Henry) going to the 1:26 3/5 three-quarters as Willys Home Run (James MacDonald) tracked Valuable Miss's cover. Kinnder Hotblood put Valuable Miss away late on the final bend and was game through the stretch as well, but MacDonald had Willys Home Run coming three-wide. Thanks to a 28 1/5 final kicker, Willys Home Run was able to get up in time, downing Kinnder Hotblood by half a length in a 1:55 1/5 mile. Valuable Miss ended up third.

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Willys Home Run, who has won half of her 16 lifetime tries and banked C$685,135, is an Archangel filly trained by Kyle Fellows. Bred by co-owner Reg Higgs, she is co-owned by Dr. Sara Gatchell, Jake Higgs and Yolanda Fellows. She returned $2.60 to win.