Top fillies finally set to link up in MSSBA Silk Lace

The most anticipated battle of the 2024 Manitoba harness racing season is finally going to happen. Five three-year-old fillies draw into the first leg of the Silk Lace Stakes but handicapping the race is far from easy. Although it is only the first leg, a lot is at stake in the $7617 pace.

2023’s MSSBA Two-year-old filly of the year, Trust Me Alot (Trust The Artist) is starting to find her stride and has won back-to-back races coming into Saturday. After four track appearances without a win this year, she finally scored a personal best 2:02.1 and followed it up with another 2:04 win.

Although it took some time to find her stride this year, she was the hottest two-year-old filly in Manitoba last year. After finishing fourth in her racing debut, she put together a four-race streak of finishing first or second place. Trust Me Alot finished second in the MSSBA Kindergarten Stakes but followed that up with a win in the MSSBA Juvenile Stakes. Her fastest winning mile last year was 2:04.2 which was in the Juvenile.

TRUST ME ALOT REPLAY

Jacqueline Grundy trains Trust Me Alot and only has two wins on her training record this year. Tyler Grundy will jump in the bike and he too will be looking for his third win of 2024.

Choozetocruise (Lambretta) has the most on the line with her perfect five-for-five record this year. This comes after a winless two-year-old season, but she did manage to finish near the top three in all but one start last year. 2024 has been even better for the young filly as not only is she perfect but she also already has a stakes victory this year. Choozetocruise paced a lifetime best, 1:58.4 in the Lady Crocus Stakes which took place at Miami Fair. She also won the second Futurity Stake elimination in 2:03.

Although Choozetocruise draws the outside post, it shouldn’t be an issue for her as she has drawn post five in her last three races. All of these have of course been victories and the last two were even wire-to-wire performances. It will be interesting to see how she handles the race on Saturday.

CHOOZETOCRUISE REPLAY

Glenn Le Drew will be in charge of the reins for Choozetocruise on Saturday. Le Drew has six wins this year over 19 total appearances. Trevor Williams trains the young filly as he looks to earn his 10th win of 2024.

Likely to be one of not top betting favourites, Grit N Grace (Im The Pied Piper) has more luck with the inside draw. She never made a start as a two-year-old but that hasn’t been a problem for her. Grit N Grace has won three of her four career starts and her one blemish is a second-place finish in her racing debut.

Her first career win came in another division of the Lady Crocus Stakes in 1:58.4. Since then, she has had back-to-back wins at The Loop each coming in wire-to-wire fashion. Her latest win was a 2:02.4 mile in the first Futurity elimination. Drawing post position two will certainly help her chances even though she has shown she can win from anywhere on the track.

GRIT N GRACE REPLAY

Grit N Grace is one of three active pacers under trainer Lorraine Rey. Rey has four wins but also has nine top-three finishes in 11 starts this year.  Dean Rey handles the driving and he currently has five years on his record this year. He has made a total of 19 drives so far this year and will add another four on Saturday.

Another Lorraine Rey-trained filly, Chasin Rainbows (Spinfiniti) will draw in. She broke her maiden last week in 2:02.3. Before her first victory, she had back-to-back seconds and a third-place finish. With Dean Rey being paired up with Grit N Grace, the reigning top driver in Manitoba, Blake Piwniuk will drive Chasin Rainbows.

CHASIN RAINBOWS REPLAY

The only winless filly in the field is Chocolate Bomb (Armbro Baylor). In three starts, the best she has been able to muster is a pair of third-place finishes. In all of her starts, she drew post position two but will get the rail on Saturday. Sherri Mason trains Chocolate Bomb and Darryl Mason will handle driving duties.

Three-year-old boys also will kick off with the $7,653 Golden Boy Leg 1 on Saturday. A field of seven will line up in the sixth race of the day.

The first race kicks off at 1:00 p.m. CST.

For complete race results, click here.

by Trey Colbeck, for Harnesslink