Woodbine Mohawk Park: Rookie pacing fililes battle in She's A Great Lady elims

Its A Love Thing and Caviart Belle took their respective C$35,000 eliminations of the She's A Great Lady for rookie pacing fillies by narrow margins on Saturday night's card at Woodbine Mohawk Park.

In the first elimination, driver James MacDonald sent Its A Love Thing for the front from the outermost post in the sextet and clicked a 27 3/5 first quarter before 3-5 favorite My Girl EJ swung off the pegs from third. My Girl EJ grabbed the lead before a 56 3/5 half and coasted around the far turn as MacDonald revved Its A Love Thing from the pocket to three-quarters in 1:24 4/5. Its A Love Thing then slid to the lead into the final eighth and held My Girl EJ at bay while under a hand drive to win by a half length in 1:50 4/5. My Girl EJ settled for second with Genie Hanover another five lengths behind in third. Stonebridge Halo and Rocket Deo rounded the finalists.

"I can't give [James MacDonald] enough credit for the job he's done with her, teaching her how to race," winning trainer David Menary said. "She was a little bit green starting off in here [and] she's the exact opposite at home, so it made her a little tougher to rig. All winter long, she dominated my group of babies and could've trained with open-type horses. Everything's heading in the right direction at the right time."

Its A Love Thing has now won five times from eight starts and earned C$216,446 for owners Eric Good, Thomas Biederman and Josh Green. The daughter of Bettor's Delight went off as the 6-5 second choice and paid $4.40 to win.

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Caviart Belle swept to the front before the half and held firm on the lead to take the second elimination in 1:50 2/5.

Odds On Platinum posted a 26 4/5 first quarter as driver Yannick Gingras readied a charge out of fourth with Caviart Belle, who cleared control to a 56 second half. Caviart Belle kept rolling to three-quarters in 1:23 1/5 and spun for home with an anxious challenger in Odds On Platinum pulling outside to take a shot at the 1-9 favorite late. Gingras kept Caviart Belle to task, and she responded to hold a half-length on Odds On Platinum at the finish while Bettor Sisters took third and the last two final berths went to Watching You and Elodie Hanover.

"She definitely wasn't as sharp," Gingras said of Caviart Belle's tight victory. "Even in the post parade she was a little lazy on me, and that's really not her thing. I didn't want to wake her up or nothing like that, so I just left her alone. I was hoping it was a good sign, but she was a little tired finishing. I think she'll be that much better next week. Last time she did it with the plugs in, but obviously we asked her [today]. I thought Sylvain [Filion and Odds On Platinum] had me in the stretch. She showed she had some class; she wanted to put her nose in front."

Caviart Belle bagged her fifth win from seven starts and has now earned C$157,513. Nancy Takter trains the daughter of Captaintreacherous for owner Caviart Farms. She paid $2.10 to win.

The top five finishers from each elimination for the She's A Great Lady received their draw for the C$540,000 set for next Saturday night, Sept. 23. The post positions are listed below:

1-Elodie Hanover
2-Odds On Platinum
3-Caviart Belle
4-Rocket Deo
5-Its A Love Thing
6-Genie Hanover
7-My Girl EJ
8-Watching You
9-Stonebridge Halo
10-Bettor Sisters
AE-Bronx Barista

--press release (Woodbine Mohawk Park)--