Smashin Racquets serves an ace in Grassroots

Smashin Racquets (Resolve) delivered a wire-to-wire harness racing victory in the final Ontario Sires Stakes Grassroots preliminary leg for three-year-old trotting fillies on Saturday (Sep. 9) at Hanover Raceway.

The filly took the advantage early for Bob McClure from post four and cut :30.1 and 1:02 first-half fractions. Shiny New Penny (James MacDonald) popped the pocket as they raced down the backstretch, and the top two went toe-to-toe to three-quarters in 1:32.1.

Smashin Racquets leveraged her inside position on the final turn to edge clear of the challenger, and she widened the winning margin to two-and-a-quarter lengths as she sped home to stop the clock in 2:00.3.

Shiny New Penny held off the closing Sweet Detrmination (Jonathan Drury) to finish second.

SMASHIN RACQUETS REPLAY

Smashin Racquets, a homebred for Awesome Acres Standardbreds, is now four-for-11 this year. She has secured a spot in the Grassroots semi-final in a breakout three-year-old year after a winless season at two. The Robert Kyle Fellows-trained filly has won two Grassroots legs and finished the regular season with 105 points. Her career record is now four wins and $71,937 in earnings from 20 starts.

The first of the two divisions went to Its Your Choice (Muscle Mass, James MacDonald), who also cut the mile in a 1:59.3 performance. Lucy Who (Jean Bernard Renaud) popped the pocket and attacked around the far turn but broke late and was placed fourth after finishing third. Hot Flash Kimmy also closed and was three-quarters-of-a-length adrift in second. Lastkickathecan (Borth) was promoted to third.

ITS YOUR CHOICE REPLAY

Its Your Choice has won two of her 20 lifetime appearances. She hit the board in four of five Ontario Sires Stakes Gold tries at two and rallied to a show finish in the Super Final. She was less competitive at that level this year and dropped down to the Grassroots in July, finishing second. Saturday’s win was her second of the year and first in the Ontario Sires Stakes. Matt Bax trains the filly, who has now earned $153,782, for Al Libfeld of Pickering and Marvin and Lynn Katz of Toronto.

The Grassroots semi-final is up next for the three-year-old trotting fillies. They will race at Woodbine Mohawk Park on Sep. 22 for spots in the $75,000 final.

Hanover Raceway will conclude its 2023 meet on Saturday, Sep. 16.

For complete race results, click here.

by Nicholas Barnsdale, for Harnesslink