Top OSS filly back to victory lane in $95,500 Gold

R Liza (Muscle Mass) rebounded from her first loss of the year with a harness racing victory in her $95,500 Ontario Sires Stakes Gold fourth-leg division off a month layoff on Monday (Aug. 12) at Grand River Raceway.

The filly was never headed after grabbing front-end control from post five. Jody Jamieson had the lines as she led through :28, :57.2, and 1:26.1 splits. She put away the first-up P L Rainbow Dash (Bob McClure) coming down the lane and was not bothered by pocket-sitter Valentine Blue Chip (Doug McNair) as she completed the 1:54.2 win. Valentine Blue Chip finished second, followed by P L Rainbow Dash.

R LIZA REPLAY

R Liza is now nine-for-14 lifetime with $415,107 in earnings. She won her first four starts of the year before a narrow defeat in the Gold Mid-Season Championship. Suzanne Kerwood conditions the filly for M & L of Delaware and Alabama Harness Associate of Vestavia Hills.

Willys Home Run (Archangel, James MacDonald) charged from third to first down the stretch to take the second division. She waited from third as Kinnder Hotblood (Matt Bax) and Valuable Miss (Trevor Henry) battled into the last turn and tipped three-wide at the top of the stretch. Kinnder Hotblood took a length lead straightening for home, but Willys Home Run rolled by her to prevail by a half-length in 1:55.1.

Kinnder Hotblood came home second, and the game Valuable Miss took third.

WILLYS HOME RUN REPLAY

The win was Willy’s Home Run’s first in the Ontario Sires Stakes this season for the defending champion. The Kyle Fellows-trained filly has amassed eight victories and $685,135 in earnings from 16 career starts. She is owned by Dr. Sara Gatchell and Jake Higgs of Strathroy, Reg Higgs of Ilderton, and Yolanda Fellows of Rockwood.

The three-year-old trotting fillies will complete the preliminary legs of the Gold series on Sep. 30.

Grand River Raceway hosts more Ontario Sires Stakes Gold action on Wednesday, Aug. 14 with two divisions of leg four for sophomore male trotters.

by Nicholas Barnsdale, for Harnesslink