by Sandra Snyder, for the Ontario Sires Stakes
Rexdale, ON — Carolyn AS heads into Saturday’s Ontario Sires Stakes Super Final off a pair of commanding victories in the last Gold Series event of the season and trainer Anette Lorentzon is hoping the 3-year-old trotting filly is poised to defend the championship title she earned over the Woodbine Racetrack oval last fall.
“She has been racing really good,” says Lorentzon. “Hopefully she is going to be good in the rest of her races.”
The Striking Sahbra daughter and regular reinsman Jack Moiseyev clocked a 1:56 Windsor Raceway track record in their Oct. 21 Gold elimination and came back the next week with a 1:56.2 Gold final victory — both wins by a resounding 5-1/4 length margin. The pair will try for a second Super Final title from post three in Saturday’s seventh race, alongside Ontario Sires Stakes record holder Brigham Dream, who gets post two.
“I was very happy about that,” says Lorentzon about the filly’s post position. “I really hoped that she was not going to get post 10.”
Owned by ACL Stuteri Inc. and Bill Justice, Carolyn AS has been consistent throughout her sophomore campaign. Through 11 starts she boasts a record of seven wins, one second, one third, one fourth and one fifth for earnings of C$364,497. She captured three Gold eliminations, scored two Gold final victories, and swept her elimination and the final of the Canadian Breeders Championship. Her personal best 1:55.2 came at Mohawk Racetrack in the July 28 Canadian Breeders Final.
“She has a big heart and she really wants to do her work, that’s the reason she is as good as she is,” asserts Lorentzon. “She’s very nice, and very handy at everything.”
While Mach You And Me has not missed many checks this season, consistent is not one of the words breeder and co-owner Dennis Caruana would use to describe the 3-year-old pacing filly. Neither is nice, at least not on the racetrack.
“In her stall, in the paddock, in the cross ties, you could lay down under her and she would never do anything,” explains Caruana. “As soon as you put her harness on she was all business — like crazy business. That is just her temperament.”
The Orono resident bred and raised the Mach Three daughter and handled her training until mid-May, when he and partner Paul MacDonell opted to hand her over to Ron O’Neill, hoping the hustle bustle of the Cambridge trainer’s barn would help curb some of the aggression she exhibited in her first three starts. Training with other horses on a regular basis did help teach Mach You And Me to sit behind them in a race, but it did not change her fundamental personality, and on several occasions this summer she turned in on-track performances more suited to the Calgary Stampede’s saddle bronc string than a top Ontario Sires Stakes competitor.
In spite of her impetuous behavior, Mach You And Me still managed to capture five wins and three seconds in 15 starts, and heads into Saturday’s rich season finale off a very satisfying 1:52.2 Gold final victory at Georgian Downs on Oct. 30.
“We were really pleased. She seemed to turn herself around, finally,” says Caruana. “I had a very good time there.
“Beating Michelle’s Power was awesome. Obviously she’s the talk of the town as far as the 3-year-old fillies go, but we got the best of her that night, and that was great,” he adds. “I hope we can beat her again.”
MacDonell will steer Mach You And Me from post three in the eighth race on Saturday, with points leader Michelle’s Power lining up at post five. At Georgian Downs the pair battled tooth and nail in both the elimination and final, and Caruana expects another outstanding performance on Saturday.
“It’s going to be a pretty big race,” predicts the horseman. “She doesn’t owe us anything; it’s just fun to be a part of it. It looks like the eight best fillies are left for the big showdown, and if she behaves we’ll be fine.”
Post time for Woodbine Racetrack’s Saturday, Nov. 10, program is 7:40 p.m., with the first C$300,000 Super Final showdown slated as race three. The other seven division championships will go postward as races four through 10, with a grand total of C$2.4 million on the line.
- Coleman and Dean trainees ready for OSS battles (Wednesday, November 07, 2007)
Ontario’s top 2- and 3-year-old pacers and trotters will battle in eight season ending Super Finals on Saturday at Woodbine.
- Windsong Espoir shoots for ninth straight in Super Final (Friday, November 09, 2007)
Good horses often have an indefinable something that brands them as a star and 2-year-old trotting colt Windsong Espoir, the early favorite for Saturday’s C$300,000 Ontario Sires Stakes Super Final at Woodbine, has it in spades.
- Top money earners on their toes heading for Super Finals (Friday, November 09, 2007)
Deuce Seelster and Laddie head into the Ontario Sires Stakes Super Finals at the top of their game.