Three-year-old trotting filly Canada Cool is sitting in a familiar position heading into the Ontario Sires Stakes Grassroots regular season finale at Georgian Downs on Tuesday evening
.
The consistent young trotter wrapped up her freshman campaign atop the Grassroots division standings, and she is poised to repeat that feat this season. Through the first five Grassroots events Canada Cool has posted three wins and one third for a total of 162 points. Even if she does not add a single point to her tally on Tuesday, the worst she will finish is in a two-way tie for top spot in the point race.
“She came back slow for the first couple this year,” says trainer Mark Steacy. “But after a couple starts she was good again.”
Canada Cool will wrap up her regular season from the outside Post 9 in the last $24,000 Grassroots division on Tuesday, but Steacy says driver Simon Allard should be able to hustle her off the starting gate and into position.
“Her biggest asset is that she can get off the gate so good,” says the horseman, who conditions Canada Cool for Katherine Steacy of Lansdowne, Ont., David Reid of Glenburnie, Ont., Dr. Malcolm Man Son Hing of Campbell River, B.C. and Joe Loring of Canmore, Alta. “If she can free wheel, she’s one of the speedier ones in there I think.”
Canada Cool heads into Tuesday’s contest off a third-place finish in an overnight event at Mohawk Racetrack on Sept. 30 and Steacy says the Angus Hall daughter is on her game right now.
“We’ve been racing her in between in Mohawk in the OSS conditioned race,” notes the Lansdowne, Ont. resident. “She’s pretty easy. She likes to be outside, and she very rarely needs to be trained. She’s pretty low maintenance right now.”
Canada Cool won her Grassroots Semifinal last season and was a narrowly beaten second in the Grassroots Championship, results she is hoping to match or better this season. The top 16 point earners will square off in two Semifinals at Western Fair Raceway on Oct. 16, with the top four finishers from each Semifinal returning to the London oval for the $100,000 championship on Oct. 23.
In addition to Canada Cool, Steacy will also harness Always A Favorite and J M Annie in Tuesday’s skirmish. With 58 points, Always A Favorite sits just below the current cut off for the top 16, and Steacy would love to see the hard working daughter of Striking Sahbra earn her way into the post season.
“She’s been a bit of a pleasant surprise,” says the trainer. “She’s not as fast as Canada Cool — [Canada Cool] is the best of the three by far — but she’s a good sized mare that tries hard.”
Steacy conditions the half sister to $539,916 winner Fan Favourite for owner and breeder Stan Klemencic of Trenton, Ont. and Allard will steer the filly from Post 7 in the seventh race.
J M Annie will make her final Ontario Sires Stakes start from Post 3 in the second Grassroots division, wrapping up a season that has been a disappointment to owners Landmark II Racing Stable of Elginburg, Ont., David Reid of Glenburnie, Ont., George Judson of Athens, Ont. and David McDonald of Cornwall, Ont. Through 12 starts the Angus Hall miss has only been able to pick up one second and two thirds, adding just $12,184 to the $56,690 she earned as a two-year-old.
“She’s been a big disappointment this year,” says Steacy. “She was a pretty nice two-year-old, but she didn’t winter very well, and she never got any better.
“She’d pretty much have to win to get to the Semifinal, and it looks like she drew a tough division,” he adds.
Allard and J M Annie tackle a field of Grassroots veterans on Tuesday that includes top ranked fillies Northern Gem (Post 2) and Rose Of Mali (Post 1).
The three-year-old trotting fillies make their Grassroots swan songs in Races 3, 6, 7, 9, and 10. Georgian Downs sends its first race behind the starting gate at 7:25 p.m. on Tuesday evening.
To view Tuesday's entries, click here.
(OSS)