Chelseas Chance, Lenny Mac, Majestic Jewel and Muscle Girl impressed Ontario Sires Stakes fans with victories in the Grassroots season opener, and the two-year-old trotting lasses did it again at Georgian Downs on Saturday night.
Chelseas Chance kicked off the Grassroots action with a commanding five and a half length victory in 1:58.4, a new personal-best for the Kadabra daughter. Milton resident Stephen Condren piloted heavy favourite Chelseas Chance to her second straight win for trainer Robert McIntosh of Windsor and his partner C S X Stables of Ohio.
Majestic Jewel, Muscle Girl and Lenny Mac lined up across the Georgian Downs starting gate at posts four, six and nine in the sixth race, and fans sent Majestic Jewel off as their top choice. Driver Mario Baillargeon had other ideas, however, and gunned Muscle Girl off the gate and onto the lead. The Milton resident and Muscle Girl rolled through fractions of :28.3, :59 and 1:28.4 on their way to a 1:58.4 victory, four seconds faster than their clocking in the July 6 season opener at Kawartha Downs.
Lenny Mac skulked along behind Majestic Jewel — who pressed the pace from the outside through the second half of the mile — to finish second, edging the hard working Majestic Jewel into third.
Port Hope resident Ray Paquette bred, owns and trains Muscle Girl, a Muscle Mass half-sister to the 2002 freshman trotting colt Grassroots champion Snoops Bytes, who banked $457,323 for Paquette during his racing career.
The other Grassroots divisions were captured by Diamonds For Life, Jamandra and Erin Hall.
Diamonds For Life was a 1:59.2 gate-to-wire winner in rein to Acton resident Trevor Ritchie for trainer Mark Steacy of Lansdowne and Ottawa owners Frank Spagnolo and Frank Schimizzi. It was the first lifetime win for the Angus Hall filly, whose dam Jayportcashforlife was also driven by Ritchie for her first win as a two-year-old in a division of the Champlain Stakes in 2006.
Ritchie also steered Jamandra to a front-end, maiden-breaking victory in 1:59.4. Rockwood's Rob Fellows trains the Kadabra filly for owners/breeders Edward Wilson of Seagrave and New York's Michael Pozefsky.
Erin Hall earned her first victory in 2:01 giving Puslinch resident Paul MacKenzie one of his five driving wins on the card. Rockwood trainer Carl Jamieson co-owns the Deweycheatumnhowe filly with Hailey Jamieson and Mackenzie O'Sullivan of Cambridge, Ont.
The two-year-old trotting fillies make their third Grassroots start at Mohawk Racetrack on July 29, while Georgian Downs fans get a look at their Gold Series peers on Tuesday, July 23.
To view Saturday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Saturday Results - Georgian Downs.
(With files from OSS)