Flamboro Downs opens its 2020 Ontario Sires Stakes season this Thursday, Sept. 17 with three Grassroots divisions of two-year-old trotting fillies competing for a total of $67,000.
Trainer John Bax will start a pair of fillies in the Grassroots regular season finale, Doing It All from Post 5 in the second $22,450 split and Lifeintheslammer from Post 7 in the third. Doing It All heads into the Flamboro event off a Grassroots win at Hanover Raceway on Aug. 29 and Bax is hoping the filly can continue her forward momentum.
“She’s getting a little more racy every start, and she’s handy on a half-mile, so we’re hoping she keeps improving. We’re kind of looking for next year, but we’d like to end this year on an upbeat note,” said the Campbellville, ON resident, who trains Doing It All for Menhammar Stuteri AB of Paris, KY. “We’re progressing in the right direction.”
The Kadabra filly’s results have improved with every Grassroots outing, starting with a seventh in the season opener and followed up by a fifth, a fourth and then the Aug. 29 win. With a total of 65 points, Doing It All currently sits tied for fifth in the division point standings and will advance to the Oct. 1 Grassroots Semi-Finals at Woodbine Mohawk Park.
Lifeintheslammer started her Ontario Sires Stakes career with two starts at the Gold Series level before joining Doing It All in the third Grassroots leg. The Royalty For Life daughter was victorious in that Aug. 17 event at Woodbine Mohawk Park, but then made a break and finished sixth in the fourth leg at Hanover Raceway.
“With her there’s something every time. Fortunately she went that one good race and showed us that the potential is there,” said Bax. “She’s got a mind of her own, but talent, definitely, definitely talent enough to be a player, and next year I’m hoping that she’s a little easier to live with and grows up mentally, and a little bit physically.”
With 53 points, Lifeintheslammer is tied for eleventh in the standings, so owners Bax Stable of Campbellville, Glengate Farms of Erin, Brad Grant of Milton and Gaelic Stable of Sharon, ON are hoping she can pad that total on Thursday.
Among the fillies hoping to prevent Lifeintheslammer from adding another win to her resume is division point leader Tipsy In Dixie, who will be looking for her third straight Grassroots victory from Post 6 in the third $22,450 division.
“She’s just fun, it’s great,” said Katherine Hedley of Canfield, ON, who owns one per cent of Tipsy In Dixie through fractional ownership group TheStable.ca. “We have watched all of her races that have been open. We’ve been to Grand River twice to watch her and two weeks ago when she was in Hanover.”
With spectators unable to attend the races in person on Thursday, Hedley and her fellow owners will be tuning in to watch the Flamboro Downs live stream and hoping Muscle Mass daughter Tipsy In Dixie can extend her Grassroots win streak.
In addition to the Grassroots divisions, which go postward in Races 1, 5 and 6, Flamboro Downs is also hosting two $7,000 Prospect Series divisions for the three-year-old trotting fillies, which are programmed as Races 8 and 10. All of the action gets under way at 6:35 pm and fans can download a program and watch the live stream on the Flamboro Downs website.
(Photo of Stephen Byron and Lifeintheslammer courtesy New Image Media)
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