by Sandra Snyder

Campbellville, ON — This year’s crop of 2-year-old trotting fillies has already impressed Ontario Sires Stakes fans in Peterborough and Dundas, and on Thursday (August 2) Mohawk Racetrack fans will get their first look at the division’s gifted young hopefuls.

Ben Baillargeon trains three of the talented youngsters hoping to earn a share of the Gold elimination prize money on Thursday and the trainer expects competition for the 10 spots in next week’s Gold final will be fierce.

“These races, they’ll have to go in 1:57, 1:58,” says the horseman, who will harness Muscle Magic in the second elimination, Carmen in the third split and Motown Muscle in the fourth and final test.

Of Baillargeon’s starters the horseman expects Muscle Magic will have the toughest time advancing to next week’s Gold final, not through a lack of talent, but because the Muscle Mass-Under The Pines daughter landed in the same elimination as reigning Gold final champion Charmed Life and two-time Gold elimination winner Bee A Magician. Charmed Life will begin defense of her title from post one in Thursday’s second race, Muscle Magic will be looking to match or better her personal best from post six, and Bee A Magician will be aiming for a third trophy from post eight.

Muscle Magic heads into the third Gold Series event off a July 27 qualifier at Mohawk that saw Baillargeon remove the trotting hopples from the filly’s equipment list. The filly responded to the change with a sharp runner-up effort, hitting the finish in 1:59.2.

“She’s a very nice filly, and she’s very smart too,” notes Baillargeon, who shares ownership of Muscle Magic, a C$20,000 purchase from last fall’s Canadian Yearling Sale, with Nunzio Vena and Santo Vena. “She just had to put it together, that’s it. I was happy with her performance on Friday (July 27).”

Sporting the hopples in the first two Gold Series events, Muscle Magic finished second by a neck to Legzy in the June 28 season opener at Kawartha Downs and third behind the same filly in the Gold final one week later. In round two at Flamboro Downs on July 15 the filly finished fifth from post seven in her elimination, hampered by a bout of sickness.

Baillargeon says the sickness has passed, but adds that Muscle Magic seems to be among those horses that suffer from allergies. Changes in routine and cooler evening air have improved the filly’s airway and he expects her to be in fighting trim for Thursday.

“The weather has been good at night and she has been spending nights outside,” explains the horseman. “Now that we know what we have to fight, we can try to help her.”

Second out of the paddock for the Baillargeon team on Thursday will be Carmen, who makes just her second appearance in the Gold Series from post four. The Majestic Son-Cavaliere Accent lass qualified smartly in June, but made a break in her Gold Series debut at Kawartha Downs. Two more qualifiers followed and on July 20 Baillargeon added trotting hopples to the filly’s equipment bag and driver Mario Baillargeon was finally able to produce a clean line.

“She’s got speed, but the second time we qualified her we left with her out of the eight hole, and the third and fourth time she remembered that we left with her,” says the trainer ruefully.

“I put the trotting hopples on her and she qualified good, then I schooled her again Friday (July 27) morning,” he continued. “She lost her head for about a month, but we’re back to normal now.”

Carmen laid down a flawless 2:02.1 effort in her July 20 qualifier, but Baillargeon says the feisty youngster trotted as fast as stablemate Muscle Magic in last week’s schooling session at Mohawk and he expects her to be sharp on Thursday.

Mario Baillargeon will handle the lines on all three of his brother’s starters and in the fourth race he will have his eye on former Gold final champ Legzy from post five and the undefeated Grassroots division leader Random Majority from post eight.

R. Berthiaume Inc. bred and owns Carmen, who is a daughter of his former race mare Cavaliere Accent, a winner of $674,507 in her career.

The final C$40,000 Gold elimination goes postward in race eight and Motown Muscle will be looking for her second win of the season from post seven. Another daughter of Muscle Mass, out of Banker’s Jackpot, Motown Muscle was a 9-1/4 length winner in the Grassroots season opener at Kawartha Downs on July 5, finished second in her Gold elimination at Flamboro Downs on July 15 and delivered a fourth-place finish in the July 22 Gold final at Flamboro.

Since the July 22 Gold final, which saw the filly tire on a heavy track rated one second slower than normal, Baillargeon has made a shoeing change and sorted out the reason for a hitch in Motown Muscle’s gait. With those two issues addressed, the trainer is expecting a strong performance from his third starter.

“She’s a natural gaited trotter, she wears nothing, and she’s a very smart filly,” he says. “She was my best filly all winter; she’s a big, strong filly.”

Bet Max Stables Inc. and Benenati Inc. bred and own Motown Muscle, who is a half-sister to former Gold Series stalwart Porsche Hall, a winner of $582,757.

All three fillies will need to finish in the top two to secure a berth in next week’s C$130,000 Gold final. The top two finishers from each of the four Gold eliminations will be joined by two third-place finishers, with those fillies selected by random draw.

The talented 2-year-old trotting fillies open Mohawk Racetrack’s Thursday evening program at 7:10 p.m., and also compete in races two, four, and eight.

To view Muscle Magic, Carmen and Motown Muscle’s previous Ontario Sires Stakes starts please go to the following links: Muscle Magic, Carmen and Motown Muscle.