September 8, 2024
By Ontario Sires Stakes Communications
SARNIA, Ont., Sept. 7, 2024 – Grassroots rookie filly trotters highlighted an 11-race card at Hiawatha Horse Park Saturday during the final stop of the Ontario Sires Stakes 50th Anniversary celebration tour.
Three $20,000 OSS Grassroots Series divisions were held for two-year-old trotting fillies with Muscle Mass daughters Incantation and Royal Sauce winning two of them, and All Star Angel (My MVP) capturing the last one.
Incantation scored her second career victory Saturday in a time of 1:59.3 for driver Garrett Rooney and trainer Jeff Williams.
A homebred of Robert McIntosh Stables Inc. (Windsor, Ont.) and Dave Boyle (Bowmanville, Ont.), Incantation was sitting at the back of the pack over the opening :29.1 and :59.4 quarters before Rooney opted to go three-wide through the 1:29.4 three-quarter mark to make up ground, bolting into the lead and hanging on to win by a neck right at the wire.
“I figured from the eight-hole we weren’t going to be able to get a great position, but we got away not too bad,” said Rooney of his trip with Incantation. “When I moved her she had a great brush to her. She kept moving, kept going forward and everything. I just noticed that usually when she makes a break it’s at the end of the mile, so I was just kind of sitting on her there at the end making sure we were staying on stride.”
The win, in Race 2, ended up being the start of three straight victories for Rooney, who drove in all 11 races.
Race 5 was won by Royal Sauce with Travis Henry driving for trainer Gregg McNair.
Clocking in at 2:01, Royal Sauce managed to settle into the pocket after the :29.1 first quarter thanks to three fillies ahead ended up breaking off. Henry stayed in that position through the 1:00.2 half and found himself in third through the 1:29.4 three-quarter pole before he opted to move Royal Sauce to the outside and win with ease.
“She was just in the right spot and she gave me a good kick for home and she just stayed at it,” said Henry.
This was the first win in Royal Sauce’s career.
She’s owned by High Stakes Stable Inc. (Farmington Hills, Mich.) and was bred by Glengate Farms (Erin, Ont.).
All Star Angel also became a first-time winner in just her third career start during Race 7’s Grassroots division.
Trained by Rachel Andrew and driven by Austin Sorrie, All Star Angel put together a 2:00.4 mile despite finding herself positioned in fifth through the first :28.1 quarter and 1:00.1 half. At the 1:29.4 three-quarter-mark, Sorrie moved All Star Angel outside to be three-wide coming into the final turn and she did the rest down the final stretch to secure the win.
“We always knew she had the talent and it was just a matter of putting it all together for a young trotter,” said Andrew. “Tonight watching her that as a trainer was everything that you want. You put in the long days and long hours and you just see them come out here and they show you that it was all worth it. It’s the best feeling in the world.”
All Star Angel was bred by Winbak Farm in Chesapeake City, Md., and is owned by Murray Graham Macdonald of Belfast, P.E.I.
In addition to the action on the track, Hiawatha Horse Park fans were also treated to OSS 50th Anniversary celebrations that included hat giveaways, a historical display, kids’ activity books and more.
The Ontario Sires Stakes 50th Anniversary celebration tour successfully completed what was an 11-track cross-province tour Saturday at Hiawatha.
Complete results from Saturday’s program are available here, and replays can be viewed on the Hiawatha Horse Park YouTube Channel.
FEATURED PHOTO: Incantation winning an OSS Grassroots Series division for two-year-old filly trotters on Sept. 7, 2024 at Hiawatha Horse Park (Holly Chaytor Photography)
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