from the Ontario Sires Stakes

Grand River, ON — Thisgirlisonfire lived up to her name as she captured the fastest of six $16,920 Ontario Sires Stakes Grassroots divisions for 3-year-old trotting fillies on Wednesday night (July 2) at Grand River Raceway.

Mario Baillargeon was content to sit the garden spot in second with Thisgirlisonfire and they had a perfect view of Wings Of Ballykeel who cut the mile for Trevor Henry. The fractions were :28.4, :58.4 and 1:28.3 and down the stretch the leader tired allowing Thisgirlisonfire to hit the wire first in 1:58.4. Wings Of Ballykeel had to settle for the bridesmaid’s role this night while Viva Bayama was third.

It was the first win of the season for the daughter of Angus Hall owned by one of the leading drivers in the sport, Jeff Gregory, along with William Richardson. Trained in the United States by Linda Toscano, Ron Parsons handles Thisgirlisonfire’s conditioning during her stay in Ontario.

The next fastest winner among the Grassroots girls was Aphrodity who pulled Rick Zeron to a 1:59.1 victory in front of Northern Secret and Stormont Kate. Zeron trains and co-owns the daughter of Striking Sahbra with The Camel Club Stable.

Zeron was also victorious in the final division as he sent Love Detective right to the top and never relinquished that position through splits of :30.1, 1:01 and 1:31.2. Please Okay gave chase down the lane but was a whisker shy at the wire reached in 2:01.2.

Jimmy Takter trains the winner, a daughter of Ken Warkentin, for his wife Christina Takter and breeder Jan Hoibye. It was the first win in seven tries this year for Love Detective.

Also winning their divisions were Nickange Two (The Pres) in 2:01.2 for Mike Saftic and trainer Brian Hodgson, Lenny Mac (Kadabra) in 1:59.3 for Steve Condren and trainer Bob McIntosh and Wawona (Kadabra) in 2:01.1 for Sylvain Filion and Rene Dion.

This was the first OSS event of the 2014 season at Grand River Raceway. They’ll next host the province’s best on July 16 when the 2-year-old colt pacers will contest their second Gold division of the season.

The 3-year-old trotting fillies will meet in the Gold division Thursday night at Mohawk and their next Grassroots event is slated for August 12 at the Campbellville track.

To see complete results from Wednesday night’s Grand River card, please click this link.