Day leads Women’s Driving Championship

Hanover, Ont. – Natasha Day leads the harness racing OLG Ontario Women’s Driving Championship after a first leg at Hanover Raceway on Saturday that featured an eager crowd and aggressive driving from the eight contenders.

The OLG Ontario Women’s Driving Championship (OWDC) is a contest in which eight female drivers compete in ten races over two days – Saturday at Hanover and Sunday at Dresden Raceway – and earn points for their finishes in each race (8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 respectively). The pilot with the most points after round two will be declared the champion.

Day holds a five-point advantage after five races on the card, but the Australia-born driver said she’s up against some tough opposition to take the trophy.

“These girls are vicious, they are like full on vicious – it’s like a ‘don’t take their boyfriend’ kinda thing,” Day quipped “It’s game on, it could be anyone’s title.”

Maggie Jones kicked off the challenge with her first victory of the year – a wire-to-wire score behind Face of War in 2:00.2. She put the gelding on point from post two, cut fractions of :29, :59, and 1:29.2, and Face Of War responded to pressure by turning away three-wide challenger Tell Us More (Day) to snag the victory. The crowd greeted Jones with a round of applause as she entered the winner’s circle.

Jones picked up a maximum eight points in the first race, but the victory was her only top three finish of the day. She goes into the second leg in sixth with a score of 21.

Marielle Enberg dominated the next two dashes, winning a second race nail biter with Premier Kane and the third in more comfortable fashion with E L Lonely Charlie.

Enberg secured the pocket for Premier Kane in the second race while following leader Pdq Hanover (Day). Enberg popped off the pylons after the quarter in (29.1) and went toe-to-toe with Pdq Hanover going to the half in 1:00.2. Premier Kane gained a slight edge at three-quarters in 1:31.1, put away Pdq Hanover, and held off the closing A Speedy Play (Marie Claude Auger) by a nose in 2:02.1 to give Enberg her first win of 2021.

The Guelph-based driver, a native of Sweden, doubled her tally in the next race after a defiant fight for the lead aboard E L Lonely Charlie. Enberg urged the gelding forward from post two and put him on the front end. Beef N Cheddar (Pam Forgie) marched past at the quarter in :27.3, but E L Lonely Charlie fought back and re-took the top spot on the second turn. Beef N Cheddar sustained his first-over bid past the half in :57.1 and three-quarters in 1:27.1, but E L Lonely Charlie outkicked him and cruised to a 1:58.1 victory.

Julie Walker, winless in eight driving starts this year before Saturday, finished the afternoon eight points behind in fourth and greeted the winner’s circle after winning the fourth race with Runaway Heiress.

She slotted the mare into fourth and sat behind dueling leaders through a :28.4 first panel. Enberg right-lined Runaway Heiress first-over prior to the half in :59.2, and the mare stepped around leader Together We Run (Jones) by the three-quarter pole, which they passed in 1:29.1. No foe was able to chase Runaway Heiress, who stormed home to win by five lengths in 1:59 for the most dominant victory of the day.

The Carlisle, Ont.-based horsewoman also received applause upon turning to get her picture taken.

Hanover regular Day sat second on the cusp of the day’s final OWDC race after scoring 24 points in the first four, but she was yet to see the winner’s circle.

“I was sitting there [before the final race) and I was like like ‘well, I’ve just chipped away, I’ve got a few good points, but I really need a winner.’”

Day, starting from the second tier with Easy Flyer, landed the three hole early but found herself boxed in fifth after a quarter in :28, half in :57.3, and three-quarters in 1:27.2. She split through a seam left by retreating leader Golden Sand (Forgie), who drifted out on the final turn, and Easy Flyer activated the afterburners in the stretch to win in 1:58.4.

Tanzanian finished second, but the judges disqualified the mare for cutting inside three pylons and placed her last – a decision that cost Enberg the lead entering leg two. Jake Parrish (Auger) gained second through promotion and Go Nine O (Kennedy) finished third.

Day’s victory, her 200th lifetime, gave her the contest lead heading into leg two at Dresden Raceway on Sunday, Jul. 18.

She praised the organization and formation of the inaugural OWDC.

“Great idea, I hope we can get more tracks on board, she said. “It’d be nice to see some of these girls drive a bit more regularly. But yeah, overall, it’s been a good event so far, and it’s just the first day and everyone’s been really supportive and shown a lot of interest. As a whole, I think it’s a good idea and I hope we can get more tracks involved and on board.”

Hanover Raceway General Manager Steve Fitzsimmons got the idea for the contest from his sister, “who wanted to do this when she was much, much younger,” but there were no opportunities for it, he said.

“[Women] don’t get the spotlight they deserve, they don’t get the opportunities they deserve,” he said. “It’s about diversity, it’s about people being able to show what they’re capable of, and the world is changing. [Harness racing] is a largely dominated male business, and these ladies are very capable drivers as we’ve seen this afternoon. They were incredibly competitive races and [the drivers are] very aggressive trying to win.”

The competitors donated all purse earnings from the Saturday leg to the Canadian Cancer Society for Cervical Cancer, and their winnings from Sunday’s second round at Dresden will go to Harness the Hope, a breast cancer charity.

Day said she wanted to highlight a lesser-known cause when General Manager Steve Fitzsimmons asked her for her input regarding the event.

“I said ‘look Steve, nothing against breast cancer [but] a lot of tracks do breast cancer all the time.’ Basically I said ‘why don’t we step out of the box a little bit?’ I said ‘there’s more to women than just our boobs,” she said with a laugh. “It’d be nice to raise awareness for something else that is to do with women that is pretty much a silent killer. So I said ‘what about cervical cancer?’ A lot of women die from it and it’s something a lot of women don’t even know they have it. […] And then tomorrow is Harness the Hope with breast cancer, so it was great to combine the two.”

The Saturday crowd was double the size of what the track has seen so far this season, according to Fitzsimmons. He said that people told him they were specifically making trips to Hanover Raceway to see the contest.

Kathy Pot, a fan attending the races, said she enjoyed the action. “I thought [the OWDC] was absolutely amazing,” she said. “With our own Natasha Day, it was very nice to see.”

Fitzsimmons said that he wants to see the OWDC expand in future years and petitioned other tracks to participate.

“We’re certainly looking for it to build to something much bigger than what this is with just two stops,” he said. “So, racetrack general managers out there across Ontario, we’d sure like to have you as part of this next year.”

The standings going into the second round at Dresden are:

1 – Natasha Day – 32

2 – Marie Claude Auger – 27

3 – Marielle Enberg – 26

4 – Julie Walker – 24

5 – Britt Kennedy – 22

6 – Maggie Jones – 21

7 – Pam Forgie – 16

8 – Andrea Leon – 12

Dresden Raceway will begin Sunday’s card at 1:00 p.m. EDT and feature the first five dashes as the OWDC races. For Dresden entries, click here.

For full race results, click here.

by Nicholas Barnsdale, for Harnesslink