After winning the first Gold Final, Sooner Than Later failed to advance out of the elimination round in the second and third Gold Series events, so trainer Doug McIntosh decided
a mini-vacation in the September sun was the best way to prepare the two-year-old trotting filly for her Tuesday, Sept. 29 test at Windsor Raceway.
"She had an issue with a bit of a throat infection. She just couldn’t shake it," explains the Wheatley resident. "So we decided to skip the Peaceful Way and just get her healthy, and hopefully we’ve accomplished that."
Sooner Than Later started her career in a division of the July 5 Robert Stewart Stakes at Mohawk Racetrack, finishing second in a 1:59.1 mile. The Striking Sahbra daughter then swept her July 13 Gold Elimination and the July 20 Gold Final at Grand River Raceway in a track record equalling 2:00.4.
An early break in her Aug. 3 Gold Elimination at Mohawk derailed the filly’s hopes of defending her Gold title, but she bounced back with a solid outing in an Aug. 10 overnight, stepping to a third-place finish with a 1:58.2 effort. In the Aug. 24 Gold Elimination at Mohawk, Sooner Than Later missed another final with her fifth-place effort, and the last start before her September stay-cation saw her finish fourth in a division of the Sept. 7 Champlain Stakes at the Campbellville oval.
Sooner Than Later will make her return to the Gold Series from Post 2 in the first $40,000 Gold Elimination on Tuesday, and McIntosh is expecting the competition to be tough.
"We drew in a rather stiff division," says McIntosh, who shares ownership and breeding credit on the filly with William Weaver III of Freehold, NJ.
"This is maybe as good a group as I’ve seen for seven or eight years, in total depth," he adds. "If any of them falter, the others are right there."
Sooner Than Later will face Peaceful Way finalists Warrawee Lassie from Post 1 and Ruling Class from Post 5, as well as the disqualified Peaceful Way Elimination winner Angostura from Post 7. McIntosh is not expecting the young trotter to be at her very best this week, but is expecting an improved performance as compared to her most recent starts.
"I’m looking for her to throw in a pretty good effort in Windsor," says the horseman. "She’s a really nice filly. Hopefully if she can stay healthy for the rest of the year she’ll be noticed."
With two wins and one fifth-place effort, Sooner Than Later currently sits fourth in the race for one of 10 invitations to the $300,000 Super Final on Nov. 14. McIntosh is expecting the freshman trotting filly race to be a tight one, and the trainer would like to see his charge secure a few more points over her local oval in the next two weeks.
"It’s going to be a bit of a rat race for that Super Final," notes McIntosh. "We’re there to get all the points we can."
The fillies will vie for Gold Series points and purse money in Races 2 and 4 on Windsor Raceway’s Tuesday evening program of harness racing, which gets under way at 7 pm. The top four finishers from each elimination, plus one fifth-place finisher drawn by lot, will return to the Windsor oval on Tuesday, Oct. 6 for the $130,000 Gold Final.
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(OSS)