Mario Baillargeon was content to sit the garden spot in second with Thisgirlisonfire and they had a perfect view of Wings Of Ballykeel, who cut the mile for Trevor Henry. The fractions were :28.4, :58.4 and 1:28.3 and down the stretch the leader tired allowing Thisgirlisonfire to hit the wire first in 1:58.4. Wings Of Ballykeel had to settle for the bridesmaid’s role this night while Viva Bayama was third.
The win was the first of the season for the daughter of Angus Hall, who is owned by one of the leading driver's in the sport, Jeff Gregory, of New Jersey along with William Richardson of New York. Trained in the U.S. by Linda Toscano, Ron Parsons handles Thisgirlisonfire’s conditioning during her stay in Ontario.
The next fastest winner among the Grassroots girls was Aphrodity, who pulled Rick Zeron to a 1:59.1 victory in front of Northern Secret and Stormont Kate. Zeron, of Oakville, Ontario, trains and co-owns the daughter of Striking Sahbra with The Camel Club Stable of Hamilton.
Zeron was also victorious in the final division as he sent Love Detective right to the top and never relinquished that position through splits of :30.1, 1:01 and 1:31.2. Please Okay gave chase down the lane, but was a whisker shy at the wire, reached in 2:01.2.
Jimmy Takter trains the winner, a daughter of Ken Warkentin, for his wife Christina Takter of New Jersey and breeder Jan Hoibye of Norway. The win was the first in seven tries this year for Love Detective.
Also winning their divisions were Nickange Two (sired by The Pres) in 2:01.2 for Mike Saftic and trainer Brian Hodgson, Lenny Mac (Kadabra) in 1:59.3 for Steve Condren and trainer Bob McIntosh and Wawona (Kadabra) in 2:01.1 for Sylvain Filion and Rene Dion.
This was the first OSS event of the 2014 season at Grand River Raceway. They’ll next host the province’s best on July 16 when the two-year-old colt pacers contest their second Gold division of the season.
The three-year-old trotting fillies will meet in the Gold division tomorrow night at Mohawk Racetrack and their next Grassroots event is slated for August 12 at the Campbellville track.