Milton, ON — Two-year-old trotting fillies got their start at Woodbine Mohawk Park on Tuesday (July 6) and Adare Castle and Elegant Mermaid emerged victorious in their Ontario Sires Stakes Gold Series debut.

Adare Castle kicked home to a 4-3/4 length win in 1:57.4. New Image Media photo.

In the first $82,134 division, fans liked the look of Adare Castle’s qualifying results — one win and one second — and sent her off as their top choice. The Muscle Mass-Pacific Edge daughter and driver Bob McClure left well from post four and had established command before the :29 opening quarter. They cruised along on the front end through a 1:00.1 half and 1:30 three-quarters and then kicked home to a 4-3/4 length win in 1:57.4. HP Felicity finished second and Needa Little Magic was third.

“The first day we hooked her she laid down in the mud, so I wasn’t overly impressed that day, but after that things were pretty good. She was a little spooky all winter, but she settled down and once we started coming to Mohawk training she got better and better and better,” said trainer Mark Etsell. “The first time I qualified her, I mean she had showed speed before, but at home, you know, and then I turned her loose a bit that day and she come home in :27.3 and I said, ‘Hmm maybe we’ve got something here’. So then Bobby qualified her the next time and she come home in :28 and change. She’s got such a fluid gait. It just helps her a lot, she can carry her speed for quite a ways, and she’s sensible too, so far anyways.”

Etsell purchased the filly at last fall’s Standardbred Horse Sale for a modest $10,000, a price that had him double checking his catalogue and going over Adare Castle with a fine tooth comb looking for a flaw he had missed in his initial inspections.

“I almost missed her, it’s kind of a scary story. It was really hot there and of course you didn’t want to stay inside because of the COVID restrictions and stuff, so I was outside having a drink with Aaron Byron and all of a sudden I heard her name,” Etsell recalled. “I ran in and they were stuck at $8,000. I stuck my hand up and they dropped the hammer. I’m going, ‘Hmmm did I buy the right horse? Was I bidding on something else?’ I’m like, ‘No, that’s the number.’ So I went back and looked at her again and said, ‘What did I miss?’ and there was nothing.

“She’s not a big, big filly, maybe that was the thing, she was a little, I wouldn’t say on the small side, small medium maybe. It was funny, I could have sold her like five times after I bought her down there, so I guess obviously somebody else missed her too. I don’t know, our fortune, other people’s misfortune, it worked out good for us.”

On her arrival in Ontario Etsell’s longtime partners Robert Newton, Graham Hopkins and Peter Porter bought shares of Adare Castle, who returned that investment and put a little money in their pockets with the $41,067 she earned Tuesday evening.

In the second $82,782 Gold division driver Sylvain Filion used a similar strategy with Elegant Mermaid from post eight. Sent to the front soon after the :28.1 opening quarter, Elegant Mermaid sailed through a :59 half and 1:29.1 three-quarters before pulling away to a 2-1/4 length win in 1:57.3. Fan favorite Grace finished second and Lovin Julie was third.

Elegant Mermaid, another daughter of Muscle Mass, out of Daylon Mermaid, is a recent arrival in the Ben Baillargeon barn and he was impressed with her Ontario Sires Stakes debut.

“I didn’t have her this winter. She wintered in (New) Jersey at Andy and Julie Miller’s. They’ve taught her everything,” said Baillargeon. “She’s such a natural gaited trotting filly that she’ll make money because she will trot on every track. I wish she was a little bigger maybe, but sometimes the best things come in little packages, right? So right now I am very pleased with her. She’s well behaved, she trots nice and there’s not much else I can say about her, I only had her one week. I might look like a genius but I didn’t do the work on her really.”

Daniel Plouffe and Alexandra Verret share ownership of Elegant Mermaid, who qualified twice at Gaitway Farm in New Jersey before shipping north for her Ontario stakes engagements.

Adare Castle, Elegant Mermaid and their 2-year-old trotting filly peers will make their second Gold Series start at Grand River Raceway on July 28.

Complete results from Tuesday’s program are available here and replays can be viewed on Woodbine Mohawk Park’s YouTube channel.

The 2-year-old trotting colts make their Gold Series debut at the Campbellville oval on Thursday (July 8). Fans can download a program and watch the live stream on the Woodbine Mohawk Park website and those wishing to attend in person can make a reservation at https://woodbine.com/mohawk/guest-registration/.