by Karen Briggs, WEG media

Toronto, ON — On a night when fully nine of the 13 contests are carded for fillies and mares, two C$20,000 splits of the Ontario Girls Pacing Series for 4-year-old Ontario-bred lasses will be the marquee events on Friday (Feb. 27) at Woodbine and a mare named Paper Cut is expected to be razor-sharp.

Trainer Brian Lee gave Paper Cut, a daughter of Northern Luck, out of the Albert Albert mare Paper Bright, the month of January off after she captured the Ontario Sired Autumn Series in early December and followed that up with a second and two third-place finishes in the late December Niagara Series. Last week, Paper Cut and regular driver Phil Hudon were a fast-closing second in the opener of the Ontario Girls series, and the effort was enough to make her the 2-1 favorite in the Friday series sequel (race three, post time 8:10 p.m.).

Another mare who settled for second last week is worth watching on Friday night according to the morning line — Windsong Experanza, who’ll leave from the inside post position in the first of the two Ontario Girls splits (race one, post time 7:30 p.m.). Richard McNeill trains and co-owns this Astreos daughter, who is also fresh and keen after a January vacation and has been rated the 2-1 second choice.

She’ll have to get past rival The Three Of Us, however, and the Bob Young trainee is undefeated so far in her 2009 season, having sailed home four lengths to the good in the Ontario Girls opener. The Mach Three lass is the 8-5 first choice in her division of six mares.

The final of the Ontario Girls series is slated for Friday, March 6, at Woodbine.