by Ashley Mayotte, WEG Communications

Toronto, ON — Trainer Meg Crone hopes Life Is A Lady can get a smooth trip and be the brightest star when the 2-year-old filly goes postward in the C$50,000 Autumn Stakes final on Thursday night (Nov. 29) at Woodbine.

The homebred daughter of Santanna Blue Chip-Mate For Life was bred and is owned by Crone and Anthony Haughan, Life Is A Lady’s regular reinsman.

It was Haughan’s brother, Eric, who also helped find the filly a name. Eric asked for name suggestions on Standardbred Ireland’s Facebook page, a page he runs, and on an online harness racing forum. It was trainer/driver Nick Boyd who came up with Life Is A Lady, a Carlos Santana song. It ended up being a perfect fit.

But in her debut season, the youngster had a few off-key moments, just like any musician can attest to.

“Just when she’s had a good chance for money, she seems to jump it off a bit,” offered Crone.

The pacing miss, who has yet to find the winner’s circle, has a second and third-place finish from 10 starts, accompanied by a $10,690 bankroll.

On Thursday, in the Autumn final, Life Is A Lady will not only have to be on her best behavior, she will have to overcome post nine.

“The post position is our biggest issue now, but I think she was probably one of the better ones going in there if she minds her manners,” said the Cambridge resident, who has enlisted driver James MacDonald to pilot the filly.

The conditioner attributes Life Is A Lady’s breaks in stride to staying focused on the task at hand.

“She just loses concentration sometimes and will make a break,” said Crone. “I see how she would have been first or second last week (on Nov. 22 at Woodbine) and still after making a break, she came back and finished fifth but was placed (sixth). She just needs to mature a little bit. I think the ability is there, just not the maturity.”

The Ontario-sired lass contested just one Ontario Sires Stakes Gold elimination, on June 28 at Mohawk, where she was interfered with and finished sixth.

“She had a little sickness there and she had a spur in her hock,” explained Crone, as to why the filly didn’t compete regularly in the OSS program this year. “We kind of had to back off her.”

The freshman also contested two OSS Grassroots dashes. She finished second with broken equipment on August 15 at Flamboro Downs and fifth on September 1 at Hiawatha Horse Park, where she clocked her own mile in 1:54.4.

Looking ahead to her 3-year-old campaign, Life Is A Lady will be pointed towards the Sires Stakes.

But first the filly will look to break her maiden, hoping to hit a high note in the Autumn. If she does, it will certainly be music to Crone’s ears.

No eliminations were required for this division of the Autumn, as 11 entered the late closer for Ontario-sired freshman filly pacers, who were non-winners of C$30,000 lifetime as of midnight, Oct. 31.

Field for the Autumn Stakes
Post-Horse-Driver-Trainer
1-A And Gs Doll-Paul MacDonell-Corey Johnson
2-Bluebird Creek-Keith Oliver-Andrew McCabe
3-Marlee B-Sylvain Filion-Rob Fellows
4-Mon Petite-Rick Zeron-Stephen Charlton
5-OK Feisty-Scott Zeron-Dave Menary
6-Prettyndangerous-Anthony MacDonald-Blake Macintosh
7-Mademoiselle Paris-Doug McNair-Stephen Charlton
8-Burstin Bubbles-Chris Christoforou-Jack Darling
9-Life Is A Lady-James MacDonald-Meg Crone
10-Machnbyrd Princess-Randy Waples-Shawn Robinson
11-My Sweet Mandy-Jody Jamieson-Allen Sisco

Also on the 11-race program, 3-year-old trotting fillies will contest a pair of C$25,000 Autumn eliminations. The late closer is for Ontario-sired sophomore filly trotters, who were non-winners of C$50,000 lifetime as of midnight, Oct. 31. The C$60,000 final is set for Thursday, Dec. 6.

First race post time is 7:30 p.m.