Fillies dominate Manitoba Futurity elims

The Loop held a seven-dash harness racing card on Saturday (Aug. 3) that featured two eliminations for the Manitoba Futurity. 10 pacing three-year-olds were split and both heats went for $9,431.

In the first elimination, the favourite, Grit N Grace (Im The Pied Piper) jumped right to the early lead and took command of the race. Lookinlikeamillion (Richard Remillad) found a spot in the pocket and Cartoon Kid (Marc Fillion) was close behind. Grit N Grace set fractions of 30.3, 1:00.4 and 1:32.0. No one ever got close to Grit N Grace and she was always a couple of lengths ahead of the next best.  She only needed a 30.4 last quarter to win in 2:02.4.

Lookinlikeamillion was second best while Cartoon Kid maintained third place during the entire mile. Whos Your Daddy (Glen Le Drew) clinched the fourth spot.

This is now back-to-back wins for Grit N Grace as she is coming off a huge 1:58.4 win in the Lady Crocus Stakes. In three career starts, she has not finished worse than second place. She is a homegrown product of Lorraine Rey who also trains her. Dean Rey was in the bike and he picked up his second win of the day. He also won the first race with Two Shoes (Whatayasay) in 2:02.2.

The second elimination had another wire-to-wire winning effort, this time by Choozetocruise (Lambretta). She had to come from post five but that was no issue, and she took the lead from the get-go. Chasin Rainbows (Dean Rey) established the pocket trip while Tough Crowd (Marc Fillion) followed third. Choozetocruise set fractions of 29.2, 1:01.1 and 1:32.4. After 30.1 last quarter, Choozetocruise won in 2:03.0 and won by five lengths.

Tough Crowd had a late charge and finished second. Chasin Rainbows faded a bit but held onto third. Trust Me Alot (Tyler Grundy) did enough to earn the fourth spot.

Choozetocruise is now four-for-four on the year after going winless as a two-year-old last year. She won the other Lady Crocus division in a matching 1:58.4 which stands as her lifetime mark. Trevor Williams owns and trains Choozetocruise. The filly was bred by Betty Manning out of Belmont, Manitoba. Gleen Le Drew picks up his only driving win on the day.

One other driver than Dean Rey had two wins on the seven-race card and that was Donald Howlett. Howlett steered Voodoo Blue Chip to a wire-to-wire win in 2:05.3. The three-year-old American Ideal colt scored his second win of the year and also a new lifetime mark. Howlett’s second winning drive came teamed up with Singing Ramona (Sportswriter). The four-year-old mare also led the entire race, and she won in 2:02.3. It is her fifth win of the year and 14th of her career. Both Voodoo Blue Chip and Singing Ramona are trained by Donald’s son, Mathew Howlett.

The top four from each elimination earn a spot in the finals which go on Sep. 7 at The Loop.

Racing returns to The Loop on Sunday (Aug. 4) for a quick three-dash card starting at 1:00 p.m. CDT.

For complete race results, click here.

by Trey Colbeck, for Harnesslink